Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again
by Red Phoenix Dragon
Summary: Looking at the GoF Yule Ball as portrayed in canon and movie, one sees a dark bitter jealous side of Ronald Bilius that Hermione sums up in one sentence. "Ron, you spoil everything!" Harry remembers who believed him and chooses Hermione. And that changes Everything! Ron has another bad experience due to his greed, fears, jealousies and Snape! HHr NLLL MOF Dumbledore Character death
1. The Harry sees the light

Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again.

Chapter 1. The Harry sees the light.

Beta by alix33 Thank you.

I don't own the Harry Potter verse. Just playing.

Summary: Looking at the GoF Yule Ball as portrayed in canon and movie, one sees a dark bitter jealous side of Ronald Bilius that Hermione sums up in one sentence.

"Ron, you spoil everything!"

Harry remembers who believed him and chooses Hermione.

And that changes Everything!

Ronald has another bad experience due to his greed, fears, jealousies and Snape!

HHr NLLL MOF Dumbledore Character deaths.

Full Summary: It is at the end of the Yule Ball when Harry gets caught up in a particular nasty fight between Ronald Bilius and Hermione. Ronald has got Hermione so angry that she snaps at Harry before collapsing in tears on the steps. Harry sees her tears and it cuts him to the core that the redhead idiot deliberately hurt her so much.

Harry can not stand it as he saw Ronald do the same to him when his name came out of the Goblet of Fire.

Harry chooses Hermione and that changes everything.

Ronald has another bad experience due to his greed plus the effect Voldemort has on his fears and jealousies, and of course, Snape.

HHr NLLL MOF Dumbledore.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Our story starts in our hero's fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, towards the end of the Yule Ball for the Tri-Wizard Tournament and our hero, Harry Potter, stood on the first landing of the Grand Staircase outside the Great Hall, as Ronald Bilius Weasley made another stupid nasty comment.

"They get scary when they get older."

And Bilius continued to run up the next set of stairs to escape the crying witch's response.

Harry had the misfortune to walk into another particularly nasty blazing argument between Ronald Bilius and Hermione. Which actually has been the same argument that has been going on for the last week since Hermione had refused Ronald's lame last minute invite to the Yule Ball. And worse, she refused to tell He-Who-Must-Know-Everything who it was that had asked her to the ball.

The argument had continued to fester all night and now Ronald Bilius had got Hermione so angry that she had snapped at Harry, himself, for the first time.

Ever!

Harry couldn't think of another time when Hermione had actually snapped at him.

And it hurt a little.

No, actually it hurt a lot.

Then Hermione in her pain and anguish cried out.

"Ronald, you spoil everything!"

And she collapsed down on to the bottom step and Harry could see that she was crying bitterly. Her tears cut him to the bone. Just like what he felt when Ronald had confronted him on Halloween about cheating to put his name in the Goblet of Fire and not telling him. The stupid git didn't believe him and worse, he started to treat him like dirt along with the rest of the school.

Ronald wouldn't believe him until he barely survived the dragon in the first task.

Higher up the staircase Harry could hear Ronald calling out his name and ordering him to go with him like some disobedient puppy. But Harry couldn't move. It was Hermione who had believed him without question. She knew him and knew he would never have entered his name in the Goblet of Fire. She had stuck by him and helped him find a way to survive this death trap of a Tournament.

And yet when Ronald came back with a half hearted apology, he had just accepted him back and pushed Hermione into the background again.

And he didn't know why, and he couldn't understand how, he could treat Hermione so callously.

When the Yule Ball was announced, Harry wanted to ask Hermione but he remembered that Ronald had already claimed her back in third year. So he looked for someone as beautiful as Hermione and Cho Chang had caught his eye but Cedric had beaten him to ask her. Then he finds out from Ronald that the git hasn't even bothered to ask Hermione until the last moment only to discover she had a date and the silly git didn't believe her too. Thankfully they were able to hook up with the Patil twins.

Then the stupid git complained bitterly about the terrible dress robes his mother had sent him. Harry had wondered why Ronald was sent that horrible old thing when Fred and George got nice second hand robes and Ginny managed to get a beautiful new gown. Even the dress robes Mrs Weasley had purchased him were new but Ronald somehow ended up with that terrible old moth eaten thing that was so bad that he didn't feel sorry for Ronald but rather he was a little disgusted that a mother would make her son to wear something that atrocious.

Then the stupid git complained bitterly while getting ready and really started to kill the mood. Harry really didn't want to go but had to as he was the extra Tri-Wizard Tournament Champion. It didn't take long for Harry to get ready. Then they met up with the Patil twins and Harry thought that they looked beautiful but Ronald just sulked as he ignored his date.

Then Hermione arrived on the staircase. Harry had never seen such a beautiful sight, she was absolutely gorgeous. So gorgeous in fact that it hurt to see her on Viktor's arm and all the attention she was getting as everyone wondered who the beautiful witch on the Durmstrang Champion's arm was. Harry was happy to see Hermione have her moment in the spotlight. Just as he was happy to see Parvati enjoy her moment in the spotlight as they tried to dance while she worked it to gain a lot of attention from the wizards from Beauxbatons. Parvati even rescued her sister from Ronald and together they charmed the Beauxbatons wizards all night.

But Ronald took one look at a happy smiling Hermione on Viktor's arm and his mood went from dark to utter black and all of his ugly jealousies surfaced. He sulked all during the ball and refused to dance with Padma and when Hermione came near he picked a bitter argument and sent Hermione away furious. And Harry saw the jealous selfish bitter hateful side of Ronald Bilius who had watched her go with a mixture of anger and satisfaction on his face. The same mixture of anger and satisfaction Harry had seen on the face of his bully of a cousin when he had again terrorised some poor child who had only said hello to Harry. Dudley had bullied the other children to keep Harry alone and friendless, and after Halloween, when Ronald had angrily dumped him, his only friend was Hermione. After three years in Hogwarts Harry had only two friends while Ronald quickly found friendship with Dean and Seamus when he dumped Harry. Why couldn't Harry make more friends? Was Ronald keeping him isolated?

Not for the first time Harry wondered why he was friends with Ronald or why had he so willingly accepted Ronald back or followed him around, doing what Ronald wanted so he wouldn't get upset with him. Even after he had found out that Ronald knew about the dragons from his brother Charlie a week before the first task and the git was too spiteful and vindictive to bother to tell him until Hagrid sent a message for him to meet him.

After everything that the school had done to him, Harry still felt a need to inform Cedric of the dragons and his former best friend didn't tell him when he knew. He could see that Ronald was greedy, jealous and had insecurity issues but how sick was the git if he could find satisfaction in hurting someone as beautiful as Hermione.

Ronald's loud calls brought Harry back to the moment, and he could hear that the annoyed git was coming back down the stairs to find him. Ronald Bilius Weasley was not a quiet wizard and did everything loudly from snoring all night, complaining as his tried to find his clothes as he got dressed in the morning, particularly loudly while eating all the time, walking and everything else. So before Ronald saw him on the landing, Harry cast a charm on himself that Hermione had taught him to help in the first task. The Notice-Me-Not charm. And he stepped back into the shadows.

Ronald reached the landing and looked around for Harry. "Bloody hell, where is that bloody stupid tosser."

Then Ronald spotted the crying Hermione collapsed on the bottom step and he smirked in satisfaction that he had ruin her night. "Insufferable-Know-It-All. Bloody nightmare still hasn't got any friends."

In the shadows standing near Ronald, Harry heard every word and any thought of friendship with the bloody git evaporated and he whispered another hex Hermione had taught him, The Misfortune Hex. The git was so wrapped up in his satisfaction of causing Hermione so much pain that he didn't notice the brown hex hit him in the behind, but he immediately felt the need to find a bathroom. As he moved forwards he stepped on the hem of his horrible dress robes and it tore in half at the waist and the bottom half fell down around his ankles. He quickly bent down to gather the torn robes as he mother would kill him if he ruined it, and there was a loud rip as he split his pants wide open. Sadly revealing the git hadn't followed the instruction about always wearing clean underwear, in fact the git had gone commando.

Ronald was such a drama queen as he let out a loud high-pitched shriek that focused everyone's attention on him, as he tried to run back up the stairs to the safety of the Gryffindor tower, only to trip over the rest of the robe around his ankles. He quickly got up and ran again disappearing up the stairs as everyone laughed at his misfortune. While Mrs Norris pounced on the remaining bit of fur lined robe and playfully ripped it to shreds.

Harry smirked. Ronald was now the center of all the attention he ever wanted, and he wonders how he would handle the fame.

Harry quietly moved out of the shadows and down the steps to sit next to Hermione. He looked into her teary eyes and wrapped his arms around her as he said. "I am so sorry, Hermione. Please forgive me. I will never make you cry again."

Hermione had heard the commotion at the top of the stairs and recognised Ronald's high-pitched scream, but couldn't see what had happened. Then she felt someone sit next to her and wrap their arms around her as she heard the voice of her best friend saying he was sorry. That opened the floodgates and she cried into his shoulder. Ronald Bilius Weasley had caused her so much bitter pain.

Thankfully Harry still had the Notice-Me-Not charm on him and it was powerful enough to cover Hermione, so no one noticed the wizard with the crying witch in his arms.

But everyone heard the silly redhead git as he was caught by professor Snape while on his desperate streak to the safety of the Gryffindor tower when it happened.

And it happened big time!

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Holding Hermione tight, Harry was able to calm her down and she stopped crying. "I don't know why you put up with that bloody stupid git. He is so jealous of everything you are and seems to enjoy picking fights and upsetting you."

"But he is your friend." Hermione said sadly.

"Not anymore." Harry said in a tone of disgust "He is still the same bloody jealous git who bullied you and sent you running for the bathroom where that troll found you in first year."

"Oh?"

"I heard him say it as he took satisfaction to see you crying alone." Harry said and then mimicked Ronald's irritating voice. " _Insufferable-Know-It-All. Bloody nightmare still hasn't got any friends_."

"He didn't?"

"He did!"

Hermione's eyes harden. "I am not surprised; the jealous git would never grow up. That's the last time I let him copy off my homework."

Harry smiled, a little thankful that Hermione didn't start to cry again at the betrayal of the redhead git. "He called me a bloody stupid tosser because I didn't do what he wanted and follow him."

"Oh, Harry I am so sorry."

"Don't be, he is not worth it. I have a dark tosser after me and a useless headmaster who is not helping and is actively making my life impossible. The last thing I need is a jealous git who gets upset if he doesn't get what he wants and will stew about it bringing everyone down, and then picks a fight and runs away."

Hermione agreed. "The last thing we need is to be on the run from Voldemort and the Ministry of Magic with the jealous greedy git. He had eaten all the food his mother had sent for her family for the Quidditch World Cup."

Harry nodded when they heard a loud crash above their heads that sounded like a number of suits of armour had fallen on a particular someone.

Hermione saw the look of satisfaction in Harry's eyes. "What did you do?"

"Er, well I was practising some charms and hexes you showed me and one accidentally hit the git."

"Oh? Which one?"

"Em, the Misfortune Hex." Harry said sheepishly. "Sorry."

Hermione's smile widen as she laughed for the first time that night. "Sorry, I know I shouldn't laugh at someone's misfortune."

"But he royally deserves it and now he doesn't have any friends except for Snape and Malfoy."

"With his jealousy and control issues, I don't think he could ever have or be a friend."

"You're right, but this night is not about him."

"Oh?"

"Yes, I hear that there is a ball on and I need a date."

"Oh?"

"And I want to ask the most beautiful girl to accompany me."

"Oh?" Hermione said a little sad. "I haven't seen Cho."

"Oh?" Harry said scratching the back of his head. "Well actually I thought the git was going to ask you and that I would have to find someone else. I thought Cho was almost as cute as you but Cedric asked her first."

Hermione caught that. "You think Cho is almost as cute as me?"

Harry shyly nodded and then added with a cheeky smile. "Tonight, you are absolutely gorgeous."

"You really think so?"

Harry rolled his eyes as he vigorously nodded his head like Dobby.

"So, is the most beautiful girl free to accompany me?"

"Oh? Well lucky for you, Viktor got so angry over what the git had said to me that he had to excuse himself and went outside before he killed the little cretin. The last I saw of him, he was being distracted by the charms of two witches from Beauxbatons."

"Oh? I am so sorry."

"It's okay. I wasn't ready for that with Viktor, but the ball was amazing until You-Know-Who spoilt it."

Harry chuckled at Hermione's joke and smiled.

"So I am free, but you better ask me before someone else does."

Harry stood up to face Hermione. "Oh, er, will you do me the honour of accompanying me to the ball?"

"Yes, thank you, kind sir, I will. But first I need to freshen up." Hermione smiled as she conjured a small mirror for Harry to hold and with a wave of her wand, she reset her hair twist and removed the ruined makeup and tear stains.

"Wow!"

Was all Harry could say as he helped her to stand up and then giving her his arm along with his heart and everything else as they walked together into the Great Hall.

While in the Great Hall, the wizard rock band was just taking a break and everyone left the dance floor. The DJ played a fill in record; a waltz called Lara's Theme, for the only couple on the floor as they let the music moved them as they danced the most beautiful waltz together in perfect step and time. All the twist and turns and slides and jumps and flying leaps brought out the mood and feeling the passion of the music as two became one movement as they floated around the Great Hall and left everyone who watched spellbound.

Harry's innate flying skills translated into the most beautiful flowing waltz and Hermione was the only witch who could keep up with him, toe to toe, and do everything backwards as her beautiful ballgown moved and floated with so much grace. Such was the silent bond they shared.

Viktor returned to the Great Hall to obtain some refreshments for himself and his two attentive witches, and saw Hermione dancing with Harry. He was not really surprised that the Wizard-Who-Flies-With-Dragons could dance like that with the right partner. Their passionate waltz had moved him and he was so happy that she had found her soul mate, and that smile on her face was all he needed to know that she would be happy with Harry. And he was particularly please that his two witches had stayed outside as he knew he would have lost them to the Wizard-Who-Waltzes as all the other witches in the Great Hall seem to desire a piece of the young wizard. Viktor would not underestimate the young champion again.

Tomorrow he would cheerfully deal with the redhead moron who had made Hermione cry and make him feel all the pain he had caused her.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Thank you for reading.


	2. The Magic of the Night continues

Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again.

Chapter 2. The Magic of the Night continues.

I don't own the Harry Potter verse. Just playing.

16/04/18 Beta by alix33, Thank you.

Thank you for all your kind reviews.

It is nice to be able to turn a sad bitter incident from canon into an extraordinary Harmony moment.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

While Harry and Hermione walked into the Great Hall, another pair of eyes watched them go. He was sitting on the same bottom step that Hermione had collapsed onto, and had been there since the end of the second dance of the evening. Sadly, he didn't need to cast a Notice-Me-Not charm, for not being noticed seemed to come naturally to Neville Longbottom.

He had witnessed the stupid jealous bitter anger of the redhead git and his bad mood vibes had ruined Neville's first ball. He had been surprised when Ginny Weasley had told him to ask her to go to the ball with him. He was not sure with Ginny being Ronald's little sister and all, and he had seen how Ginny looks at Harry, like all the time. But you didn't say no to Ginny Weasley, and so to not disappoint her, he had practised his dancing for many hours alone.

But it had been of no use.

One look at the angry git and feeling the bad mood vibe that surrounded him like a dark storm cloud, and Neville developed two very big left feet. He was so nervous that he had stepped on Ginny's toes so many times during their first dance that she surrendered, stopped the dance, gave him a quick peck on the cheek and grabbed the arm of a cute Durmstrang wizard and disappeared to the other side of the Great Hall, far, far away from the stupid jealous git and his dark mood.

So Neville did what he did best and took up a seat to watch others have fun. Or at least try to, but the dark mood of the jealous git was as effective as a whole dread of Dementors were at sucking the joy out of the ball. He had witnessed the bitter fight Ronald had picked with Hermione and had seen the look of satisfaction on the vindictive git's face as Hermione left in anger. What the stupid tosser had said was enough to start a blood feud between Viktor and the half-wit.

Sadly, Neville saw the final confrontation in the corridor that had left Hermione collapsed on the bottom step in tears. He agreed with her one hundred percent, Ronald ruined everything for everyone. He heard the high-pitched scream of the git but couldn't see what the idiot had done and heard as the git ran away. He was about to go over and try to comfort Hermione when he sensed a presence of someone under a Notice-Me-Not charm and Hermione stopped crying. He assumed it was Harry so he remained where he sat alone and just watched the space where Hermione had disappeared. Sure enough Harry appeared and asked Hermione to go the ball with him. Neville smiled as he watched them walk arm in arm into the Great Hall. They made a great couple and he could never understand why they put up with the loud, greedy, jealous, lazy git.

Then Neville noticed another young witch who was sitting alone on the same bottom step but on the other end against the wall. She seemed to have a wistful smile as she watched Harry and Hermione go, but her dress looked a little odd, like it was made out of a white bed sheet wrapped around her and her feet were bare. But seeing Harry have the courage to ask Hermione to the ball, had embolden him to ask the shy witch if she would like to go to the ball with him.

Neville stood up and walked over to the dark blonde witch and held out his hand. "Hi, I am Neville Longbottom."

The dark blonde witch looked up cautiously to see the kind blue eyes and held up her hand warily. "Hi, I am Luna Lovegood."

Neville took hold of her hand. "Hello, Luna, would you like to go to the ball with me?"

"Oh, er?"

Neville was so nervous that he took that for a 'yes' and lifted the petite witch to her feet, only for her to desperately grab her white bed sheet dress that was wrapped around her before it fell to the floor.

At that moment, the three Gryffindor chasers were returning to the Great Hall after refreshing themselves in the girls' bathroom and had seen the whole thing.

Katie Bell thought it was the bravest thing Neville had ever done and asked. "Who is this princess, Neville?"

Neville turned the three chasers glad for the distraction as he had no idea what was happening to Luna's dress. But Neville passed the first test of friendship with flying colours. The test of loyalty to his new friend. "Oh, this is my date, Luna Lovegood." And turning to Luna he continued. "And Luna, this is Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet."

Luna shyly smiled a hello, as Neville introduced her to his friends. As a Ravenclaw, she knew them as the Three Wicked Witches of Gryffindor, such was their notoriety and skill on the Quidditch pitch, and she would love to have them as her friends.

"Well, Princess Luna needs a pair of princess slippers." Katie said as she waved her wand to summon two crystal dishes from a table and transfigure them into the most exquisite crystal high-heeled slippers and placed them on the floor in front of Luna.

Luna looked at Neville who smiled encouragingly as he still held her hand while her other hand held up her bed sheet dress. She looked at the three smiling Gryffindor witches and detected no hint of deceit or guile. Then she looked down at the exquisite crystal slippers. In all her sad time at Hogwarts no one had shown her any friendship, except for an odd house-elf called Dobby, who was always telling her fascinating tales about the Great Harry Potter and had ensured that when she had been locked out of the Ravenclaw tower, barefoot, without clothes and her wand, that she had a clean white bed sheet to wear and lots of hot chocolate to keep her warm. And now this shy wizard had asked her to the ball and his friend had transfigured a pair of exquisite crystal slippers for her.

With Neville still holding her hand to steady her, she carefully stepped into the crystal slippers. They fitted her feet perfectly and were far more comfortable than the cold stone floor.

Angelina Johnson spoke next. "And Princess Luna needs a princess gown to wear to the ball." She waved her wand and transfigure Luna's bed sheet into a white satin off the shoulder strapless long flowing gown that hugged her petite figure and flared from the waist into a full length beautiful princess ballgown.

Luna had never seen such a beautiful gown and as Neville lifted her arm up she twirled around to watch how the beautiful ballgown seemed to float.

Alicia Spinnet spoke next. "And Princess Luna needs to have a princess hairstyle." She waved her wand at Luna's hair and it twisted itself into a beautiful French braids and finished with a French twist at the back with some curls hanging down to frame her face. Very similar to what Hermione had done.

Katie spoke at last. "And Princess Luna needs a tiara." And she waves her wand to summon a third crystal dish and transfigure it into a beautiful crystal tiara as it floated onto the front of Luna's head and sparkled as it slipped into her hair.

All Neville could say was. "Wow!" Very slowly as Luna really did looked like the most beautiful princess he had ever seen.

"Now run along you two, have fun and don't forget midnight." Katie warned.

"What? Tonight?" Neville asked.

"No, tomorrow night, silly." Katie replied with a smile. "The enchantments will last until then."

"Enjoy this night." Angelina smiled. "And make it special."

While Princess Luna smiled her first real smile at Hogwarts as she gave a graceful curtsey to thank her three new friends as her prince charming, Neville, led her into the Great Hall for her first ball, arm in arm. Luna couldn't wait to kick up her heals in this beautiful ballgown.

The three fairy godsisters high fived each other as they took pride in their handiwork. They had noticed the sad state of the young Ravenclaw witch but were powerless to intervene, house autonomy and all that, not that Gryffindor didn't have its own issues with Cormac McLaggen and Ronald Bilius Weasley. But now Luna has a Gryffindor boyfriend, she will be now under the protection of the Three Wicked Witches of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and things will change.

Then they heard a deafening crash above them and a distant loud angry. "Who, the bloody hell, put that there!"

Followed by a deep sneering cheerful voice. "Detention! Again! Weasley!" And gleefully added. "And another one hundred points from Gryffindor! Yahoo!"

And they fist pumped together. "Yes! This night is just getting better and better."

The Three Wicked Witches of the Gryffindor Quidditch team were so sick of the redhead moRon _accidentally_ wandering through the pink door into their change room while claiming he was looking for Harry, and they knew the house point system was abused by the slime-ball professor, but the more points Snape took, the angrier the kitty would be when she caught up with him and she might just finally do something right. They smirked as they watched their Head of House run out of the Great Hall to find out what had happened to all of the Gryffindor house points and she was followed by the headmaster intent on protecting his Potions professor from a most painful death.

And they fist pumped together again. "YES!"

Arm in arm the cheerful three fairy godsisters sashayed into the Great Hall and watched as Neville and Luna started to waltz to the music. Slowly at first but with growing confidence and smiles. Thankful that all the attention was on the other couple dancing gracefully in the center of the Great Hall, and no one recognised who the new mystery young couple was.

Except for three very happy fairy godsisters and they wouldn't tell anyone.

Then the Three Wicked Witches of the Gryffindor found their dates for the night and wanted to dance but they noticed that everyone seemed to be held spellbound as they watched the only other couple dancing in the middle of the Great Hall. They saw their young seeker float across the floor arm in arm with the only witch who could keep up with him. They marvelled as Harry's flying skills and grace and daring were transformed into a waltz that perfectly brought out the passion of the music and it was breathtakingly beautiful to watch as all the witches swayed with the soaring melody and the way Hermione's gown floated and moved.

Sadly, the music slowed and stopped as the waltz ended while the young couple alone in the middle of the Great Hall slowly circled each other as they have done every day for the last three years and they stared into each other's eyes. Slowly at first, they moved closer together until their lips gently touched.

Then their lips touched again as his arms went around her waist to hold her tight while her arms went around his neck and her hands went into his messy black hair as the kiss deepened. While a great cheer went up and witches swooned around the Great Hall as they felt the passion of that kiss and there was a loud gong sounding as if the castle celebrated the moment.

Not that Harry and Hermione noticed, they were in love.

From her position on the floor where the three fairy godsisters had swooned to, Katie noticed that Neville and Luna's lips were gently touching too.

After a moment that seemed to last forever, the band returned and started to play again as everyone moved onto the dance floor to celebrate the night as they danced around the young couple still kissing passionately in the middle of the Great Hall. Later Harry and Hermione danced a sizzling tango that left scorch marks on the stone floor while the mystery couple was almost as hot.

Neville was so happy that there were no mistakes in the tango, not like all the mistakes he had made in life. Its simplicity is what made the tango so great. If he made a mistake and got all tangled up with Luna, they could just tango on. While Luna loved to dance with her magical creatures, this was so much better! And Neville hasn't stepped on her toes once! Luna was so happy her smile lit up the Great Hall.

Without professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape or Ronald Bilius Weasley to ruin the night and end the ball, it went on and on until the band finally fell asleep at 4:00 AM, Harry and Hermione were too buzzed to sleep and went up to top of the Astronomy Tower with Neville and Luna to snuggle and watch the stars until the dawn.

That and a little gentle lip touching.

Okay, okay, a little more snuggling and a lot of gentle lip touching.

While a certain very happy house-elf kept them warm with blankets and lots of hot chocolate.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Thank you for reading.


	3. And the Magic grew to A Brand New Day

Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again.

Chapter 3. And the Magic grew until it filled the Castle. A Brand New Day.

I don't own the Harry Potter verse. Just playing.

14/05/18 Beta by alix33, thank you.

Thank you for all your kind reviews.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

There was a new feeling of Magic awakening in the castle. But it wasn't new but a very ancient Magic that has been allowed to go to sleep by those who wanted the power to influence, manipulate and control the future for some Greater Good.

But the Magic of that Night was coming back.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Late on the night of the Yule Ball a battle of wills and misfortune was raging until only one angry kitty was left standing.

While no one would be surprised at the news that Ronald Bilius Weasley had the misfortune to earn himself detentions until he graduated to be served under the watchful care of professor Snape. Not even his angry Head of House uttered a single word of protest or support in his defence, and he sadly was sent straight to bed. What moRonald didn't understand was his Head of House was way too angry to listen to his futile attempt to blame it all on Potter, and that was what sealed his fate. That the headmaster agreed with such a supposition was the last straw.

The other two participants fared little better. Professor Snape had to use some brain bleach potion to remove the memory of the sight of the streaking flaming idiot. The only thing that cheered the sour professor up was the fact that Gryffindor had negative five hundred house points. The most that the headmaster would let him take and the kitty was absolutely furious.

But the unbelievably absolutely furious kitty struck back and while everyone knew that magic was based on emotions, no one realized that the size of an Animagus could be affected by emotions. After the idiot traitorous boy was sent to his dorm and the old fool ignored her while he accepted, that this deplorable incident was all Potter's fault and the negative five hundred points as reasonable and fair, with a wise nod of his head.

YOWL! _HISS!_ **SNARL! _GROWL! ROAR!_**

"NO! Minerva!" Cried the fearful old fool.

 **SLASH! RIP! SLASH! RIP!**

 **SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!**

" **AAUGH!"**

 **THUD!**

" **NO!"** Screamed the Insufferable. **"** **STUPE..."**

 **SLASH! RIP! SLASH! RIP!**

 **SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!**

" **AAUGH!"**

 **SLASH! RIP! SLASH! RIP!**

 **SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!**

" **AAUGH!"**

 **THUD!**

The unbelievably absolutely furious kitty transformed into her kitty alter ego (Wonder Tabby Kitty) and was the size of a Sabre Tooth Tiger with razor sharp claws that made mince meat of the backsides of the insufferable grease ball and the interfering old fool of a headmaster who had got in the way.

She transformed back and viewed her handiwork. She summons her elf. "Missy, please inform Poppy that she is needed in the Hospital Ward."

The elf popped away as Minerva waved her wand to clean the blood, flesh and ripped robes from her paws and then transported the two minced up wizards to the Hospital. Poppy rushed in and saw the mess on the beds and the claw marks were a dead giveaway. She turned to her friend.

"Oh, thank Merlin! You have finally broken the headmaster's influence." Poppy said as she hugged her old friend. "Welcome back!"

"What!"

"The Minnie I knew would have never tolerated the behaviour of that miserable excuse for a Potions Master!" Poppy happily said. "How the headmaster could completely trust that man, I will never understand."

"Well things will change now!" A determine Minnie said.

The insufferable grease ball and the interfering old fool of a headmaster enjoyed the rest of the Yule night flat on their stomach under the care of Madam Pomfrey and wouldn't be able to sit down for two weeks and by then Slytherin will have negative five hundred house points too.

The sad headmaster had thought that house points debacle was a bit childish but the kitty didn't care, after all these years of biting her tongue and following the old fool's forgiveness line, she finally snapped and lashed out.

And she felt great!

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna watched the glorious dawn to a brand new day as the winds of change were gently blowing their way with the air fresh and clear. They went to the Gryffindor tower to tidy up themselves. Harry and Neville were particularly quiet as they didn't want to disturb a certain redhead's beauty sleep even though they would be able to hear him snorting under wet concrete. While Hermione took Luna to her dorm where the other witches were sound asleep. So they quickly freshened themselves and Hermione gave Luna some clothes and shoes to wear as Luna explained where her beautiful ballgown had come from. Hermione was proud that the Three Fairy Godsisters were able to help Luna and quickly found the ancient runes that would make the enchantments permanent. Luna used some long strands of her hair for magical thread and with Hermione's wand she was able to embroider the ancient runes onto the hem of the gown, then Hermione used her wand engraved the ancient runes onto the crystal slippers and the tiara. The runes glowed as they were activated. The bright golden smile on Luna's face was priceless as she knew that she would be able to wear the beautiful ballgown at her wedding.

Harry and Neville were waiting in the common room for Hermione and Luna, and Neville explained what Luna had told him about her bullying in Ravenclaw house. As they wondered what they could do Dobby popped in to collect the blankets he had given them to keep warm while on the Astronomy tower, and offered to help them to find what had been taken from Luna. Harry thanked Dobby and sent him to find all of Luna's missing things and he returned five minutes later with a trunk that Luna had lost in her first year and it was full of clothes, books and things plus a photo and two wands. Harry directed Dobby to take the things to Luna.

Hermione and Luna had just finished with the ballgown when Dobby popped in with Luna's old trunk and she was overjoyed to have the three most precious items returned. The last photo that was taken of her mother and her, her mother's wand and her own. She tearfully hugged the little guy as she profusely thanked him. She looked at the Ravenclaw clothes and decided she would prefer to be an honorary Gryffindor today which brought a smile to Hermione's face and she wrapped Luna and Dobby up in a Hermione Hug.

Hermione looked at the photo and it showed a young Luna and her mother dressed as fairies with beautiful fairy wings and the title read; 'Queen of the Fairies and her Princess'. Luna placed the wands one behind each ear as she hid them with her hair and then she hugged the photo. The family magic on the photo was refreshed by Luna's hug and the two fairies started to fly around as they laughed and danced.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Harry, Hermione, Neville and the new Gryffindor, Luna, arrived in the Great Hall for breakfast to find it unsurprisingly three quarters full with most of the students there were still buzzed by the Magic of the Night and hadn't slept while the rest were the first, second and third year students wondering what had happened the previous night. They were quietly listening while the older students were talking excitedly amongst themselves of the magical things that happened at the Yule Ball.

Luna and Neville waved a hello to her three Fairy Godsisters as they sat on the Gryffindor table and started to eat breakfast. The three Fairy Godsisters gave them a radiant smile as they high fived each other still proud of their handiwork from the previous evening and to see that Princess Luna and Neville had made such a beautiful couple with their favourite seeker and his Hermione.

Sadly there were those who were unaffected by the Magic of the Night, and they were at breakfast in the Great Hall eagerly waiting for the arrival of the Daily Prophet. It would contain their five minutes of fame and glory as they had given exclusive interviews to a certain vindictive reporter about a certain fellow student and wanted to see their names in print and the effect of their bitter sharp comments.

Unfortunately they would be very disappointed as a very thin edition of the Daily Prophet arrived that morning with no mention of the Yule Ball or their insightful interviews. Rather on the front page was a large photo of Rita Skeeter, the Daily Prophet's star reporter, with the headline;

MISSING!

Foul Play Suspected!

A second photo showed a worried Minister of Magic and his sneering Senior Undersecretary with the byline _that he was very concern_ _ed_ _and that no stone would be left unturned or dark corner unsearched,_ as if he was looking for a rat or an insect or bug.

That dampened the mood of the Great Hall until four owls arrived with a very large package and landed in front of Luna Lovegood. She opened the package to find her father had sent her one hundred of copies of the Quibbler's Bumper Special Tri-Wizard Tournament Yule Ball Edition with the front page showing a full page colour photo of the Great Hall decorated for the Yule Ball. In fact it contained ten foldout double page brilliant colour photos of the Yule Ball, showing scenes from the Champions dance, the Weird Sisters, the waltz and a tango until the end of the ball. But the photo selected to grace the front page showed only one young couple waltzing in the center of the Great Hall with the same full uncropped photo also used for the giant foldout centrefold, which also showed a second couple off to the side who also waltzed very gracefully and they looked like they had come straight out of the fairy tale of Cinderella. Plus there were many other full page photos in the bumper edition, with the photo to grace the back page showed the Three Fairy Godsisters changing an unrecognised dark blonde witch into Cinderella. And all the photos were credited to the Quibbler's ace photographer; Colin Creevey, and were enchanted so that you could hear the music when you touched the photo.

Luna smiled as she could see that her father had added his own special touch to the captions to the photos with the caption on the back page read; _Three Fairy Godsisters and the Princess_ , while the caption to the photo inside the back page which showed a certain angry redhead with a half moon running up the grand staircase closely followed by a certain dark mood professor, it read; _The Mating Ritual of a Crassus_ _C_ _apillos Desmodus_ _R_ _otundus_ _in_ _pursu_ _it_ _of_ _a rare_ _m_ _oon_ _ing_ _Heliopath Slashkilter_. But she loved the caption her father had given the beautiful centrefold; _The Waltz of Love_. She gave a copy each to Neville, Harry, Hermione, and her three Fairy Godsisters who started to read them, while she past the rest to Colin Creevey with the instruction to keep two and sell the rest.

The three Fairy Godsisters loved the photos but the one they loved the most was the photo to grace the back cover. Their joy was expressed in Angelina's cry of,

"Sweet Merlin, Luna, these photos are bloody fantastic!"

That outburst was like a sudden bright ray of sunlight to drive away the doom and gloom that came with the Daily Prophet, and focused everyone's attention to Luna and when they saw what was on the cover of the magazine she was holding, they surged forward.

Colin Creevey bravely jumped to her rescue as he stood up on the bench and waved a copy of the Quibbler above his head while he yelled.

"Get your copy of Quibbler's Bumper Special Tri-Wizard Tournament Yule Ball Edition. Only One Sickle four Knuts!" He cried as the students surged towards him. "Foldout brilliant colour photos of the Great Hall decorated for the Yule Ball full of students. See what you did last night and _relive the magic_ _!"_

The eager students surrounded him with their money while his little brother Dennis rushed five copies to sell to the Head Table. Not surprisingly that bumper Yule Ball edition of the Quibbler was the fastest selling edition ever. Luna asked Colin to send an owl to her father for more copies but fortunately with the goodwill of the ball everyone was happy to share until they got their own copy.

Colin realised a golden opportunity and quickly sent an owl to Mr Lovegood ordering another two hundred copies of the Bumper Edition and then requested another two hundred of a Special Photographer's Choice Bumper Edition for two Sickles eight Knuts! containing an additional fifteen double page brilliant colour foldouts that he had selected to completely show the whole Yule Ball from start to finish, except of course for a certain negative incident surrounding a certain redhead who only appeared in one photo with a certain dark mood professor. Plus more full page brilliant colour photos of students including an odd photo of a gigantic cat tormenting two particular familiar rats and a photo of the glorious dawn that morning. A four page brochure was included that had small copies of most of the photos taken that night with an order form on the back page along with an advertisement for the _Quibbler's Bumper Special Tri-Wizard Tournament First Task Edition. Only One Sickle four Knuts!_ With Harry dancing er.. outflying a dragon on the front.

As there were no classes, the students stayed in the Great Hall to read the Quibbler for the amazing photos. The foldout photos were big enough for everyone to see, including _certain disappointed Slytherin students and a certain redhead,_ as they eagerly searched to find themselves in the photos and were surprised as their photo image seemed the sway as though they were held spellbound as they watched the certain couple dancing in the middle of the Great Hall. They saw the young Gryffindor seeker float across the floor arm in arm with the only witch who could match him in every way. They marvelled as Harry's flying skills, grace and daring were transformed into a waltz that perfectly brought out the passion of the music and it was breathtakingly beautiful to watch. Even now as they touched the photos to hear the music, the Magic of that Night seemed come out of the moving magical pictures as all the witches remembered how they felt as they swayed with the soaring melody and the way Hermione's gown floated and moved. And that passionate kiss! Well, that was really something amazing.

With orders from the parents and grandparents of the students of all three schools, plus other interested parties, and sales from the newsstands in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, the Quibbler had to reprint that Bumper edition fifteen times and thanks to Colin's entrepreneur skills, the Special Photographer's Choice edition was reprinted ten times plus there were leather bound deluxe editions of both as well as countless framed copies of the moving magical pictures with the enchantment to play the music in surround sound. The now famous centrefold became known by its caption _The Waltz of Love_ , and outsold all the others photos combined. It was a particular favourite for witches young and old. Professor McGonagall would obtain giant copies of all the photos of the Tri-Wizard Tournament Yule Ball to hang around the castle with the photo of _The Mating Ritual of a Crassus_ _C_ _apillos Desmodus_ _R_ _otundus_ _,_ hung in the dungeons next to a certain professor's office, while an enlarged giant photo of _The Waltz of Love_ , hung in the entrance hall of the Hogwarts Castle and every visitor would see it and none were not moved by its passion.

On the opposite wall of the entrance hall there hung an enlarged giant photo of the First Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament showing a certain young champion and a certain humongous dragon and the title was appropriately; _Dancing with Dragons_.

Harry ordered a large framed copy of _The Waltz of Love_ photo to give to Hermione's parents.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Sadly, Ronald Bilius Weasley was late to breakfast with only scraps left, but fortunately he had a change of clothes. He didn't notice everyone reading the Quibbler as he was hungry and more interested in filling his stomach. He did notice how close Harry and Hermione were together and went red with jealous rage and started to scream and waved his hands around at them after all the trouble they caused him the previous night, but Harry quickly cast a silencing hex on their former friend. So no one could hear the moRonald but his angry hand gestures were plainly obvious as he silently declared in his confused anger due to lack of food, that Hermione had cheated again, that Harry was his boyfriend and then pointed to his sister Ginny, and shook his head to show that the bloody tosser would never marry his sister, Ginny.

Then the idiot's rage overcame Harry's silencing hex and everyone heard what he screamed next as he made the biggest mistake in his life and tried to grab Luna and cast her from the Gryffindor table.

" _ **WHY THE BLOODY HELL IS LOONY LOVEGOOD SITTING AT THE GRYFFINDOR…."**_

" _ **PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"**_

 _ **CRUNCH!**_

 _ **THUD!**_

Neville had reacted quickly and hit the moRonald with a petrifying hex as he gently and carefully removed Luna from the moRon's paws and sat her down. Then he punched the idiot and broke his nose as he fell to the floor.

When Neville had finished the Three Wicked Witches of Gryffindor swung into action to finish the moRon's rage. They lifted him up from where he landed and sat him on the floor in the corner of the Great Hall. Angelina waved her wand and banished the idiot's loud annoying mouth to a certain blocked toilet in certain girls' bathroom on the second floor just above the Great Hall. Katie waved her wand and summons all the leftover food, scraps and dregs from all the plates and all the glasses on all the tables in the Great Hall into a large iron bucket front of the idiot and gracefully twirl her wand around quickly to whip the disgusting mess into a watery paste. Alicia waved her wand and transfigured the moRon's nose into an elephant trunk and shoved the end into the bucket full of paste. Luna waved her wand and released Neville's hex.

No one was really surprised when the moRon snorted the lot up his trunk in two minutes flat and posed for the camera as Colin took some interesting photos of the eating habits of the rare _Heliopath Slashkilter_ for the next edition of the Quibbler. While Moaning Myrtle flushed the noisy disgusting thing she had found down the toilet.

Only moRonald could be quite proud of himself as his burp sounded like a trumpet with his new elephant trunk nose and he could eat more food a lot faster plus he didn't get his paws covered in grease. But when he saw that no one was giving him any attention, Ronald noticed the photos everyone was looking at and he used his new trunk snatch a copy of the Quibbler from a nearby first year witch who screamed as the ugly thing took her copy. He took no notice as he, of course, quickly searched for himself in the photos, but he couldn't find himself in any of them until he saw the photo on the inside back page of the Quibbler that showed him running up the stairs, and suffered what is commonly known by the Magical medical term, _a cerebrum crepitum_. Sadly the Potions professor and headmaster had a similar reaction and fate when they saw the Magical Wizarding magazine.

While the nearby first year witch kicked the moRon where his family jewels would be if he had any and Dennis gave her his copy of the Quibbler. Then the aforementioned sister hit her stupid brother with her signature Bat Bogey hex which made a really serious mess with his new trunk. She had plans to escape her mother's schemes, er, arrangements to a place far far away with a really cute very pale wizard from Durmstrang called Vlad. (Yeah, that family!)

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Sadly those who were unaffected by the Magic of the Night, and were bitterly disappointed that their parent wouldn't read their exclusive interviews that they had given to a certain vindictive reporter in the Daily Prophet. They were so bitterly disappointed that they foolishly expressed themselves in the Great Hall.

Daphne Greengrass, a beautiful Slytherin student in Harry's year also known as the Ice Queen for her coldness towards the advances of one, Draco Malfoy, had had enough of the UN-Slytherin behaviour of the blond imbecile and she took inspiration from what the Three Wicked Witches of Gryffindor had done to silence the redhead moron. She carefully took out her wand and held it close to her body as she waved it surreptitiously at the blond imbecile and his three girlfriends, Crabbe, Parkinson and Goyle, and swapped their mouths around. And as Daphne was a true Slytherin, she did it very cunningly and no one knew that it was the Ice Queen who had hexed the imbecile.

The sight of Draco chucking a right royal hissy fit stamping his foot while sounding like a thick mumbling Goyle was almost as hilariously funny as watching Crabbe with a mean dopey expression on his face as he cracked his knuckles while screaming in a high-pitched voice about what would happen when his father hears about this. While Goyle screamed with Parkinson's high irritating voice with Parkinson herself, mumbling like Crabbe.

Everyone laughed themselves silly and the Great Hall was in a complete uproar. But that just made the blond imbecile angrier and intensified his hissy fit and the anger of the words coming from Crabbe, which just made everyone laugh more.

After Professor Flitwick had fallen to the floor for the fifth time as he was laughing himself breathless and Professor McGonagall couldn't laugh any more as it hurt too much, so she decided to bring order back to the Great Hall and took one hundred points each of the Slytherin blond imbecile and his trio, plus a week of detentions to be served with Argus Filch, the caretaker of Hogwarts, as their Head of House was indisposed. Mr Filch so delighted as he very rarely got to punish Slytherin students who were particularly nasty to him, and professor Snape, as an encouragement to his godson never to get a detention again, had approved the use of the old punishments. Yes the old punishments where you were hung by your wrists from the ceiling for a few days, Mr Filch eagerly got the chains from his office where he had kept them well oiled in case they were ever needed. The Slytherins will certainly think twice about breaking a school rule again.

Frantically, Draco looked for his godfather but he was nowhere to be seen in the Great Hall and he left with his girlfriends to search for his Head of House. While you my dear reader is well aware that the missing professor was under the care of Madam Pomfrey after crossing paths with a very big angry cat. The headmaster was in the bed next to him after also crossing paths with the same cat while endeavouring to protect his pet. Sadly this meant that Ronald Bilius Weasley also would serve his detentions with Mr Filch and would be hanging about with the Slytherins until the professor recovered.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

During a lull at breakfast as everyone was looking for themselves in the Yule Ball photos, the Weasley Twins announced that Professor McGonagall had won the Harry and Hermione pool for nominating the Yule Ball as when they would finally get together. That made the Professor very happy as the pool was worth over a thousand galleons.

After the breakfast was cleared from the tables and everyone was in a good mood as they had listened to the music enchanted into the photos of the Yule Ball. One brave suitor tried to impress his girlfriend and started to waltz her down between the tables. Professor McGonagall saw that and with a wave of her wand moved the tables to one side to make more room as other students followed suit. While Professor Flitwick sent his elf Pippin, to collect four large sea shells from his bookcase in his quarter where he kept his memorabilia of his travels. With the help of Bathsheda Babbling who taught The Study of Ancient Runes, they worked together to charm and engrave ancient runes on the large sea shells and placed in the four corners of the Great Hall and filled it with music. Beautiful waltzes like Lara's theme and the Blue Danube with many others for the students to dance to.

When Lara's theme was played on the enchanted sea shell speakers, everyone looked at Harry and Hermione as they cleared the floor. Harry and Hermione looked at Neville and Luna, and together they gave another amazing demonstration on how to waltz just as spellbinding as the night before as a few very courageous wizards and witches slowly followed their steps and joined them on the floor.

Then the students from first, second and third year whom the headmaster had sadly prevented from attending the Yule Ball could see that they had missed out on a truly magical event and Professor McGonagall couldn't agree more. So she announced a Post Yule Ball to be held that night and open to students from all years. More importantly she announced that it would be Witches Choice. So the witches could ask the wizards before they all escaped from the Great Hall. They all cheered as the witches looked forward to dressing up again in their beautiful ballgowns and the Three Fairy Godsisters with all their Fairy Godsisters' friends spent the rest of the day transfiguring the school robes of the first to third year witches into beautiful Princess Ballgowns.

With the headmaster and a certain other professor trapped in the Hospital ward, the Post Yule Ball was more musical and magical than the Yule Ball as they danced the night away. So they had a New Year Eve Ball at the Castle for the first time since before the headmaster became a professor.

After spending the morning giving dance lessons in the Great Hall, Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna decided to return to the Astronomy Tower for a little quiet time and Dobby brought them lunch.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

So, I suppose my dear gentle reader, you are wondering what happened to the certain vindictive reporter?

Well she disappeared and was not heard of for many years. But as you have been leaving some very nice encouraging reviews I shall share with you an exclusive report on the Sad Tale of Rita Skeeter.

Unbeknownst everyone the very next significant event to occur on the night of the Yule Ball, was what happened to Rita Skeeter, the wicked witch of the order of the poison pen first class, had what is commonly known by the Magical medical term, _a_ _C_ _erebrum_ _C_ _repitum_. She had indeed attended the Yule Ball in her secret undercover bug form and had received those exclusive interviews of bitter sharp comments from certain vindictive students about a certain fellow student.

Then Rita had attached herself to the hood of the robes of professor Snape. She had just composed in her mind a very juicy story on the heartache that the Boy-Who-Lived must feel when his Muggle-born plain but ambitious girlfriend dumped him to go to the ball with the Bulgarian bon-bon Viktor Krum. When the son of her childhood arch nemeses, Molly Prewett, threw a vicious hissy fit and suddenly had all this unbelievable misfortune and she could write an even a nastier devious tale on the Wisdom and Detentions of Ronald Bilius Weasley and his overbearing mother, and another chapter in her tell-all book on Dumbledore as he bent the rules to save the idiot.

Then Rita discovered that her first story was wasted when she found Harry Potter dancing with his former Muggle-born girlfriend, and she wanted to write an even more dastardly story on the heartbreak of the Bulgarian bon-bon Viktor Krum caused by the shameful Scarlet Woman. Then she finds that the heartbroken Bulgarian bon-bon being distracted by the charms of not one but two beautiful witches from Beauxbatons.

The possibilities of so many juicy, wicked, devious, dastardly and possibly true stories blew her mini bug mind and Rita didn't notice the half giant Keeper of the Keys and Care of Magical Creatures professor, Hagrid, about to sit down on the bench where her bug form was resting.

They found her in the morning flattened and almost frozen. So she ended up in the Janus Thickey Ward at St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, and after the despicable story she wrote that ruined the career of the head healer of that ward, no one heard of the witch for a very long time.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Thank you for reading.


	4. The Magic grew to change a heart

Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again.

Chapter 4. And the Magic grew to change a heart and their stars.

That afternoon. Part 1.

Beta by alix33 Thank you.

I don't own the Harry Potter verse. Just playing.

Thank you for all your kind reviews.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

The joy of the students in the Great Hall was feeding into the ancient Magic that was awakening in the castle.

The Magic of that Night was coming back and it will affect the coldest of hearts and change their stars.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Late that morning in the Hospital ward a certain greasy-haired professor woke up lying on his stomach and feeling very sore and sorry. But he also felt something different. Something very different indeed. He remembered taunting the abominable kitty when she growled and suddenly got very big and made minced meat of the headmaster's backside and then came for him as he tried to defend himself and escape, but she was too quick and shredded his backside as well. He also remembered that he had used his arms in a vain attempt to protect his posterior. He looked at his hands and arms and they were covered in bandages weeping blood. Madam Pomfrey came and changed the bandages, and he noticed the muscle and skin grafts that covered his arms.

Severus Snape had his answer to why his mind felt so clear.

His dark mark was gone!

The angry kitty had ripped the dark mark, skin and muscle right off his arm.

And it wasn't coming back!

And He was free of one dark lord!

That idiot of an interfering manipulative headmaster had sadly said it would be impossible to remove the dark mark and he being a complete fool, had believed him.

Now Severus looked at the handiwork of one very angry kitty and he didn't know how to thank her. He was so happy he could kiss her.

But that would guarantee him a very painful death.

Severus noticed who was in the next bed also lying on his stomach with his backside wrapped in bandages, and he smiled.

Then he smiled some more.

Then he laughs.

And he laughs some more until it hurt him in the butt.

But he didn't care.

For the first time since he entered Hogwarts as a student, he felt hope.

Hope for a future that would be free of dark lords.

Severus needed time to think how he could fulfil his promise to save the son of Lily. He had watched how the headmaster had treated the boy and how many times the boy had faced the dark lord alone while under the headmaster's ubiquitous care and it seems like he was determined to manipulate events until the dark lord finally killed the boy.

Oh, the Great Leader of the Light claimed that he was only testing the boy as he was in a school and he was a headmaster after all. But tests are only called tests until you achieve the results you want and he feared that the boy would only graduate from the headmaster's school of hard knocks and painful suffering when the dark lord had successfully killed him. But which dark lord would kill him first.

Severus thought back to that terrible night that led to the worst moment of his life when he held Lily in his arms for the last time. She was so cold and it drained his heart. He often wondered why Dumbledore had let him go that night when he overheard part of that cursed prophecy. His own brother, Aberforth, was holding him and yet Dumbledore let him go knowing that he would go straight to the dark lord and tell him the part prophecy. Maybe that was what the manipulative old fool wanted him to do before he could realised that it would paint a big target on Lily and her son. Yes he had bargained with both dark lords for the life of Lily and for his own selfish reasons but even trying to suggest to spare the life of the boy would have guaranteed a painful death.

It seems that Poppy was determined to keep him and the headmaster in her domain and out of action for some time. So Severus thought over what had happened so far this year. He had expressed his concerns about the headmaster's old friend Moody, and the vindictiveness he has shown towards his godson as it showed a hatred far deeper than just wanting the boy's Death Eater father dead. But the headmaster wouldn't hear anything against his old friend and claimed that he had complete trust and confidence in _all_ his staff. But he knew the old Auror was not that vindictive and wouldn't have gone after children like a Death Eater, but rather was all about constant vigilance and protecting yourself and others. The mannerisms of this Moody reminded him of a real nasty Death Eater but he was supposed to be dead.

Then Potter's name came out of the cursed Goblet of Fire and confirmed his fears as the real Moody would have been upset that someone had got past him to confound the relic and he wouldn't have stopped investigating until he hunted down the real culprit and painfully killed them for putting a child in danger. But as this Moody and the headmaster seemed to be pleased with the results and as the pitiful investigation was finished, that meant that the headmaster and Moody were behind yet another test for the boy and were really using him as bait again.

The fact that the headmaster had stopped him from helping Potter, citing his fears that any help would cause the boy to lose his magic, and instead allowed the boy to be railroaded to face a dragon unprepared confirmed that the headmaster wanted the boy dead and was the true dark lord of that cursed prophecy.

Severus promised himself if he got the chance he would deal with the monster.

Painfully.

If he could move he could do it now with a pillow, but that would destroy the kitty and leave a power vacuum that his associate, Lucius, would try to fill with Fudge and Umbridge and that would only make things worse. No for now the headmaster was a necessary evil. But if things change?

Sadly, Severus realised that the current manipulations of the headmaster meant that Dumbledore would not be happy at the news that his dark mark was gone and that he could no longer be his spy if the dark lord returned without facing certain death. No, the dark lord wouldn't accept his excuse that a kitty ate his dark mark. So it would be more important to keep that a secret while he played his part and worked to bring down two dark lords. He thought up a plan of action. He had the redhead moRon in detention for the foreseeable future or until the headmaster thought that the imbecile had learnt his lesson. His first action would be to examine the relationship between Potter and the redhead as the Potter family and the Weasleys had not been close friends in the past but rather the Potters had been very close to the Longbottoms and it was obvious that the obnoxious attitude of the moRon was keeping Harry from making friends. Plus the James Potter he hated, would have never forgiven the level of betrayal that the moRon showed after Harry's name came out of the cursed Goblet of Fire. Even Lily would have extracted a painful vengeance before she would have finally forgiven but this Harry just accepted that half-hearted mumble for an apology and now he is back to following the idiot.

Severus needed to examine how the redhead fitted into the headmaster's plans for Harry. He smirked that he will have the idiot cleaning dirty cauldrons with his bare hands that had been soaked in Veritaserum and then read his mind and prompting various thoughts. Until then he could do what he could to keep the moRon away from Harry as Harry showed a marked improvement working with Granger for the brief period that the idiot stayed away. He realised that Harry wouldn't have survived the dragon if not for the confidence and friendship that Hermione had given him.

Then at the same time Severus realised that he will need to keep a close eye on Moody and discover what secrets he had and what the dark lord's plan was for Harry that the headmaster was wilfully aiding and abetting.

Further planning was interrupted as Madam Pomfrey had finished changing his bandages and she had noticed that for some reason the despised Potions Master was shaking and that was disrupting the healing of his shredded butt. So she decided to give him some dreamless sleep potion, the good stuff that was strawberry flavoured, not the disgusting stuff that the headmaster insisted she give Mr Potter. That would keep him asleep for the rest of the day and give his butt a chance to heal.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

While in the next bed lay a sad disappointed manipulative headmaster.

He never for one moment though that his faithful minion er Deputy Headmistress could break his loyalty compulsions and lash out at him like that. Particularly now when it was so important for him to manipulate and control the chaos for his Greater Good.

Of course he could forgive her as that was what he preached but he was not sure if he could forget how she ruined that new bright colourful dress robe. It was his favourite.

He didn't realise that his sadness would prolong his healing and he would be out of action for two weeks.

Two very important critical weeks indeed.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

The day got worse for Ronald Bilius Weasley for he had a terrible accident as he tripped over his trunk and tumbled down the Grand Staircase all the way from the seventh floor and down to the dungeons hitting every step and breaking every bone. Sadly he spent the rest of the holidays in the gentle care of Madam Pomfrey who had to borrow the chains from Mr Filch so she could put the idiot in traction while he bones regrew. Nothing was traced back to a smiling Viktor, of course, and he was so pleased that he was staying at Hogwarts until June and had plenty of time to teach the idiot a lesson he would never forget. No one makes Hermione cry.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

After all the excitement that morning the Golden Quartet enjoyed their quiet lunch on top of the Astronomy Tower free of the anger and frustration generated by a certain former friend. Hermione felt something was missing. She loved all the dancing with Harry but she wanted to share the photos in the Quibbler with her parents. Then as if by magic Hedwig landed on Harry's shoulder. But Hermione remembered how sad her parents looked when she told them that she would be staying at Hogwarts for the holidays. This would be the first time that she didn't spend them with her parents and she felt a little homesick.

"What is the matter, Hermione? You have gone a little quiet and sad." Harry asked as he gave Hedwig some bacon that Dobby had popped in with.

Hermione smiled as she looked in those emerald green eyes, her Harry had noticed her mood change. "Oh, Harry!" She said as she hugged him. "This is the first time that I have not been with my parents for the holidays and I miss them."

Harry understood. "You should go home, there is plenty of time before classes restart next year."

Hermione smiled. "But then I would miss you."

"Aww." Neville and Luna said. "You could always go with her!"

"Oh, but the headmaster wouldn't..."

"Our illustrious headmaster is in the Hospital ward under the care of the Mistress of Pain. I overheard Professor McGonagall telling Professor Sprout." Neville said. "The headmaster wouldn't be able to stop you and Professor McGonagall is in such a good mood that she would take you there herself."

"Oh."

"Please Harry."

"But we have missed the Hogwarts Express; it has already left this morning." Harry said as he wondered how they would get there.

Pop!

"The Great Harry Potter wishes to go to the Great Harry Potter's Granger's home?" Dobby asked hopefully. "Dobby can help!"

"Please Harry; I would love you to be with me."

"Oh er, okay."

Pop!

Neville and Luna looked at the spot where Harry and Hermione had been as Crookshanks came around the corner to find his favourite pet missing.

Pop!

Growl!

Pop!

Neville then turned to Luna. "I would love to take you home to meet my Grandmother and show her the beautiful photos in the Quibbler."

That was the right thing to say to Luna and she smiled.

Pop!

Pop!

And two more students disappeared from Hogwarts.

Dobby popped Neville and Luna directly to the vestibule of Longbottom Hall and returned to gather their things from Hogwarts.

Neville and Luna could hear his grandmother excited voice in the next room. They followed the sound of the voice to find her with her head in the fireplace making a floo call and beside her were copies of the Bumper edition of the Quibbler with a stack of copies of the centrefold and a list of names on a piece of parchment with half of the names had been crossed off and the current name was Algie.

"There Algie, that's My Grandson, Neville Franklin Longbottom, waltzing with the beautiful Princess and that's his best friends, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. Can you feel the magic coming off him now?" Augusta Longbottom said with a lot of pride to her brother.

Neville had never heard his grandmother so happy nor had she used his full name with such pride before. He carefully coughed as he greeted her back. "Grandmother, I am home."

His grandmother pulled her head out of the fireplace and looked at Neville and Luna with a smile, and then turned back to the flames.

"Oh, My Grandson, Neville Franklin Longbottom, has arrived home and he has brought the beautiful Princess with him. I have to go, Algernon, here is your copy of the Quibbler's Bumper edition and two copies of the centrefold poster. You may like to put that up on the wall of your office." She said in a tone of voice that made it an order rather than a request as she pulled her head out of the fireplace and ended the call.

"Neville!" Augusta almost shouted as she moved quickly to hug him for the first time in years and then swept Luna up into the hug.

"Gran?"

"Oh, Neville, I am so proud of you." Augusta said as she hugged him and Luna again. "My copy of the Quibbler's Bumper Special Tri-Wizard Tournament Yule Ball Edition arrived first thing this morning and I saw that it was you waltzing with the beautiful Princess in the centrefold and that beautiful music. I could feel the magic and I went to share that with your father and mother." She paused as she got a little tearful and Neville and Luna hugged her to encourage her to continue. "I opened the magazine on the small table between their beds and touched their hands to the centrefold photo so they could hear the music. Your father smiled and started to hum along, and your mother. Your mother smiled, she started to hum along with the beautiful music and then she started to wave her other hand to conduct it."

"Oh, Gran, that's fantastic! That's the most they had responded, well, ever!" Neville said happily as he turned to introduced Luna. "Oh, and this is my girlfriend, Luna Lovegood."

"Oh, I know Princess Luna, welcome to the family." Augusta greeted Luna with another hug. "I am so sorry about your mother; she was a very good friend of Frank and Alice."

Luna teared up for a moment as she snuggled into the warm loving hug from the old grandmother.

"I was just calling some friends with the good news." Augusta continued.

"Even great-uncle Algie?"

"Especially Algernon." Augusta snorted. "Come on, let's go and visit your father and mother and take these extra posters to put up in their room."

Augusta threw some floo powder into the fireplace and took hold of Neville and Luna's hands as she cried. "St Mungo's!"

And the happy and hopeful little family disappeared in the green flames.

By the time they reached Neville's parents' private room, the music of the Magic of the Night had moved Neville's mother and she was out of bed and waltzing slowly around the room as she hummed the tune. Augusta hugged Luna as she pushed Neville forward and he took his mother's open hands and arms, and continued to waltz slowly around until Neville was overcome with emotion that he just stopped to hug his mother for the first time that she was not in a bed.

Suddenly, Alice found she couldn't move to the glorious music that was flowing through her mind, and that broke the extremely deep trance she had put herself in to protect her mind from that terrible Cruciatus curse from that vicious bitch, Bella. She could feel that she was surrounded by an overabundance of love as she tried to focus her eyes to see a younger version of her Frank hugging her and realised that it was her Neville.

Her Neville that was all grown up!

Alice hugged her son for the first time since she had placed him in that hidden crib to save him.

Alice hugged him tight as her unused voice could only whisper but everyone in the room heard her heart speak for the first time since that terrible night, clear as a bell.

"Oh, my son Neville! Oh, Neville, my son, My Son!"

"Mummy?"

Neville whispered hopefully as he slowly raised his head to look into her smiling eyes.

"Oh, mummy, my mummy, _**My Mummy!"**_

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Thank you for reading.


	5. And the Magic grew to follow them home

Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again.

Chapter 5. And the Magic grew to follow them home.

05/06/18 Beta by alix33 Thank you.

I don't own the Harry Potter verse. Just playing.

Thank you for all your kind reviews.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

The joy of the students in the Great Hall continued to feed into the ancient Magic that was awakening in the castle.

The Magic of that Night was coming back and it will warm the hearts of those left out in the cold and change their stars.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

….."Oh, my son Neville! Oh, Neville, my son, My Son!"

"Mummy?"

Neville whispered hopefully as he slowly raised his head to look into her smiling eyes.

"Oh, mummy, my mummy, _**My Mummy!"**_

With tears in their eyes, Luna and Augusta moved to join the hug of the reunion of the mother and son and time seemed to stop as their love surround them.

Alice turned to focus on the other two. "Hello Mum, sorry to worry you."

"Welcome back my dear." Augusta whispered.

Alice looked at the young blonde who looked like her dear friend but was too young so that meant. "Hello, you must be Luna?"

Luna smiled as she snuggled in.

"How is your..." Alice started to ask but saw the twitch and tears and realised her dear friend was no more and just hugged her dear friend's daughter tighter as she whispered. "I am your godmother and I love you too!"

Luna snuggled in even more and wouldn't let her go as tears ran down her cheeks.

"Can you remember what happened?" Augusta asked after a while.

"Oh, mum, it is all my fault. I knew I would be followed but I had to see Dumbledore about custody of young Harry Potter. He knew I was coming but he wasn't in his office at Hogwarts when I arrived. He had suddenly gone to visit his brother at The Hog's Head Inn. The old fool knew Sirius was the decoy Secret Keeper and he would have never killed Wormtail. But he still let them throw him into Azkaban for the alleged murder of the traitor, and had dumped Harry with Lily's awful sister who hated magic, and the fool claimed that Harry was safe! Things got a little loud but he wouldn't change his mind and give Harry to me as per the wishes of Lily and James." Alice said as they marvelled in how clear her mind was. "I stormed home and started to make arrangements to go and collect Harry when about an hour later they came. Five of them, Bella and her two idiot husbands, Barty Crouch junior and allegedly dead Wormtail. Wormtail, the traitor, got them past our wards as he was still on the list."

Alice paused as she remembered that terrible night and was comforted in the love that surrounded her. "They had put up wards to block our escape and I only had time to hide my dear sweet boy and send an alert to Moody as I didn't trust Dumbledore when Bella got me. They wanted to know what happen to their evil lord." She smirked. "Of course, we didn't know and so that Bi.. er. Bella just held that Cruciatus Curse on me."

Luna got her a glass of water and Alice slipped a little.

"Lily and I had thought that deep meditation could disconnect the mind from the pain of the Cruciatus Curse and somehow save it from the trauma." Alice looked at her son. "I guess it worked a little too well."

"Just a little, mum." Neville chuckled as he enjoyed saying the word, mum.

"How long?"

"It's December 26th 1994, mum."

"Oh wow!"

"You and Frank have been in St Mungo's since that night." Augusta said sadly.

"Oh, he survived?" Alice said hopefully as she looked around and saw her husband in the other bed slowly waving his hand to conduct the music flowing through his head with his other hand resting on a large magical poster. She started to move in his direction and Neville and Luna helped her as Augusta watched.

Alice lent over as Neville and Luna steadied her and snogged her humming husband. A real deep snog that sort of embarrassed her son and her goddaughter. The hand waving and humming stopped as both arms wrapped around his wife and deepened the kiss as Neville and Luna released his mother into the arms of her husband.

"Sweet Merlin!" Augusta gasped as she saw her son wake up with True Love's Kiss, just like the fairy tales. But that kiss was too deep and hot to be in any children's fairy tale.

Frank and Alice finally came up for air as an embarrassed Neville and Luna nervously giggled.

Frank whispered. "Alice my love, you lived!"

"Only just my love." Alice said.

"Neville? Er.. Luna?" Frank whispered as he reached out a hand that Neville and Luna took. "Mum?'

Augusta had sat on Alice's bed and reached out to her son's hand with tears streaming down her cheeks. It was ten minutes before anyone spoke to break the moment.

Alice turned to Frank. "I am so sorry my love. Neville only just woke me up."

"He kkkkissed you?"

"No silly, he was waltzing with me to that beautiful melody that was flowing through my mind and held me tight to surround me with love."

"Oh!" Frank said as he turned to hug his son again as he whispered. "Thank you, my son, you saved us!"

Luna had to hold Neville as he was overcome with emotions as she whispered. "You saved me too!"

"It is okay we are back together now!" Frank whispered as he watched his goddaughter hug the life out of his son.

"How are you feeling?" Augusta asked her son.

"I feel like dancing if I could get out of this bed." Franks smiled. "How long?"

"It's December 26th 1994, dear."

"Oh wow!"

"You and Alice have been in St Mungo's since that night." Augusta said sadly.

"So, I didn't get to watch that bitch go through the Veil!"

"You still might get that chance, Frank." Augusta said sadly.

Frank looked at his mother. "Bloody Dumbledore spared her didn't he?"

Augusta sadly nodded her head. "Tried to but she went to Azkaban with her husbands and junior but only for her last crime as she was caught red-handed using the Cruciatus Curse. Alastor and I made sure of that, but unfortunately, as there were no surviving witnesses to testify against her for using the killing curse, so she missed the Veil. Dumbledore used the lack of surviving witnesses to let the rest walk away claiming the Imperius Curse."

"Damn stupid fool!"

Dumbledore's questionable actions dampened the mood a little and Neville and Luna didn't want to make it worse by telling his parents what the old fool has been up to lately. This moment was not about him but about the joy of Neville's parents returning almost from the dead.

"How?" Augusta asked Alice.

"There was a safety rune tattooed to the top of our mouth, I just had to touch Frank's safety rune with my tongue." Alice smiled. "Lily and James knew about it."

"Oh, that explains that kiss." Luna said cheerfully. "We need to practice Neville."

They were laughing as Andromeda Tonks; the head healer came into the room on her rounds.

"Oh!" Andy said surprised when she realised that the beds were empty.

"Hi Andy, good to see you." Alice said. "Can we go home now?"

Augusta and Alice quickly explained what had happened to Andy and she checked Frank and Alice over to find their minds were healthy and completely sane while their bodies showed the results of being bedridden for so many years. But they were fine to leave the hospital to go home and have further treatment to recover their strength. Luna called Dobby as he was the only elf she trusted to take the happy growing family home.

While Andy took the magical Quibbler and posters to see if they could help some of Bella's other victims left over from the last Blood War.

What do you think happened?

Well, you will have to see Luna to buy a subscription to the Quibbler to find out.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Previously, Dobby had popped Harry and Hermione directly into the living room of her parents' home with a ruffled Hedwig who had been sitting on Harry's shoulder. She took flight and landed on her private stand near the fireplace to sort her feathers out. A moment later a discombobulated Crookshanks popped in and quickly reclaimed his favourite spot on the armchair by the fire. The living room looked a little sad as her parents couldn't bring themselves to put up the decorations without Hermione being there. They could hear the TV in the lounge room and followed the sound to find her parents watching the Queen's Message as Hedwig hopped back onto Harry's shoulder as she loved to see Hermione's parents.

"Mum, Dad, I'm home!" Hermione called out behind them.

"Hermione?" Dan and Emma Granger were really missing their daughter and they jumped up and rushed to hug her. "How did you get home?"

"A friend of Harry popped us over from Hogwarts." Hermione explained as she enjoyed the hug. She had so missed her parents.

Harry watched the happy reunion until Hermione could speak again. "Oh, this is my boyfriend, Harry Potter and of course, you know Hedwig."

Harry wasn't expecting anything so he waved a hello as Hedwig raised a wing, and he held out his copy of the Quibbler's Bumper Special Edition.

"Hi, Mr and Mrs Granger, I am Harry, please have my copy of _the Quibbler's Bumper Special Tri-Wizard Tournament Yule Ball Edition._ " Harry said hopefully and added nervously. "I don't think it would survive the anger of a certain redhead in my dorm."

"Oh, thank you, I remember you and you're in every letter that your beautiful owl brings from Hermione." Dan said as he accepted the magazine and shook Harry's hand while Hedwig accepted the compliment.

Emma came and hugged the boy. "Hi, Hedwig and you're Harry Potter, I am so happy to meet you. Please call us Emma and Dan."

"Emma?" Dan saw who was on the front cover of the magazine and held it out to his wife.

"Oh wow!"

Hermione playfully snatched the magazine out of her father's hand and walked over to the dining room table. "Just wait until you see this!"

She opens the magazine and unfolded the giant centrefold on the table as her parents followed her.

"Oh wow!" Dan and Emma said together as they had not seen their little princess in her ballgown with her hair done up. "Hermione, you look absolutely beautiful."

Hermione smirked as she took their hands and touched them on the photo.

"Oh my god!" Emma cried. "Dan can you feel that?"

"Oh wow, Emma! Can you hear the music?" Dan said as he saw Emma start to move with the music. "That's amazing."

Harry and Hermione watched as the music and magic moved her parents and they started to waltz around the room. Then Emma took Harry's hand as Dan took Hermione's and they continued to waltz around the room much to Hermione's excitement and happy laugh.

Emma enjoyed her waltz with Harry and she smiled as she greeted him. "Welcome to the family, Harry."

When they had calmed down a little they went back to look through the magazine and opened up the foldouts, and Hermione started to point out all the people she had mentioned in her letters. Her parents were glad there was no picture of the other friend that she sometimes mentioned in her letters. He always seemed to be a source of frustrations, arguments and unhappiness to their daughter. Until they got to second last photo that showed the redhead mooning a professor.

Emma turned to Hermione. "Is that the one who makes you cry, Hermione?"

Hermione nodded sadly as Harry wrapped her in a hug.

"Well, mooning a professor will get you into a world of trouble?" Dan said as Harry ducked his head.

"It did!" Hermione said cheerfully.

"Harry?" Emma asked.

"Er, um, I may have hit him with a Misfortune Hex." Harry said softly.

Dan and Emma smiled and laughed.

"Well, I can imagine what that spell does but he should have known the counter curse for that or if he just sat still and quiet, nothing would have happened to him." Emma reasoned while Harry and Hermione snorted at the ridiculous idea of Ronald Bilius sitting still and quiet.

"Well, then everything _he did do_ only made it worse, so I am sure he deserved it, and you were protecting my little Princess, Harry! Welcome to the family!" Dan said as he wrapped his arms around the shy boy.

Emma went to make some afternoon tea while Dan went back to look at the photos of the Yule Ball and watch his daughter waltzing so gracefully.

Hermione saw her opportunity and turned to her boyfriend. "Come on Harry, you can help me put up the decorations."

"Oh, I was never allowed to touch that before."

"Well you can now and it's easy and fun, come on."

And it was as together Harry followed Hermione's lead to quickly set up all the decorations and they were soon ready for the grand ceremony to turn on the lights. Dan and Emma came to watch as Hermione held Harry's hand as they closed the switch and all the lights came on.

It was the most beautiful display Harry had ever seen and the lights cheered up the room and home. And it brought a tear to his eye.

Hermione noticed and asked. "Harry, what is it?"

"It's nothing."

Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I just wish Snuffles was here. He is staying at that cold cave near Hogsmeade with Moony."

"Snuffles? Moony?" Emma asked.

"Oh, Snuffles is my godfather, Sirius, and Moony is his oldest friend." Harry answered.

"And a former Professor from last year." Hermione added.

"Oh, well, if you would like to invite them, Harry, they would be welcome." Emma offered.

Pop!

Dobby popped in with a delivery. He was holding two thick leather bound books that had the long title of _The_ _Quibbler's_ _Extra_ _Special Photographer's Choice Bumper Tri-Wizard Tournament Yule Ball Deluxe Edition_ , and a very large gilded framed magical photo that Harry had ordered, The Waltz of Love.

"Hi Dobby!" Harry said as he and Dan moved to help Dobby hold the enormous framed photo while Hermione and Emma placed the books on the table.

"Thank you, Dobby." Harry said as he turned to Dan and Emma. "This is my friend, Dobby, he is an elf."

"What like Santa's Elves?" Emma asked as she looked at the elf who had just popped into her home.

"Sort of but Dobby is more a concierge or a major-domo. He is very helpful and magically powerful. He brought us from Hogwarts." Harry said.

"Oh, is that how you got here?" Dan confirmed.

"Yes." Hermione replied.

"Anyway, I got this for you, as a thank you, for letting me stay in your beautiful home."

"Oh, you didn't need to, Harry, but you are welcome any time." Dan said as Emma came over.

"Thank you, Harry; I know just where to place this beautiful picture." Emma said. "Over the fireplace."

"That would be great, but it is too big to fit over the fireplace." Dan said. "What about the opposite wall?"

"Oh but the light wouldn't be right." Emma fussed.

While her parents worked out where and how to hang the photo, Hermione turned to the elf. "Dobby, can you find Sirius Black?"

Dobby nodded his head quickly. "Dobby just delivered a copy of the Quibbler and some food to the Grim and Wolf."

"Could you ask if they would like to spend the holidays with Harry?" Hermione asked.

Pop!

A moment later.

Pop!

Dobby returned with two decrepit looking wizards who were still eating turkey legs. They must have said yes and Dobby didn't wait for them to freshen themselves. They gave the turkey legs to Hedwig and Crookshanks as Harry charged at them.

Harry wrapped Sirius in a hug and then back off. "Pew, Snuffles, you stink!"

"Sorry, the little guy didn't wait and there is no bath in my bathroom in the cave."

Dobby was unrepentant. "The Great Harry Potter was waiting for his dogfather."

"Oh."

Dan came over and said. "Welcome, I am Hermione's father, Dan, and this Emma, come on I have some clothes that will fit you two."

He led them to the nearest bathroom which was the change room for their indoor pool. Harry and Dobby followed to help while Emma and Hermione went upstairs to raid Dan's wardrobe for clothes that would fit Sirius and Moony. They picked out some nice loud Hawaiian shirts that Dan would never wear and matching clothes, and went to the change room and walked in to find Dobby standing in front of the wizards with his hands vertical and spinning quickly around as he controlled two mini tornadoes of soap and water that were washing and cleaning years of dirt off the wizards. They left the clothes as Dan and Harry watched Dobby vanished the now black soapy water away and started hot wind tornadoes to dry them. Sirius and Moony laugh as they saw the brightly coloured loud Hawaiian shirts and playfully put them on as Dan and Harry left to let them get dress.

Five minutes later a clean and buffed Moony came out of the change room wearing a bright loud blue Hawaiian shirt. He saw everyone looking at him and said. "Thanks for the shirt Dan, Sirius will be along in a moment. He decided to challenge the little guy and Padfoo hasn't had a bath in years."

"Oh?" Emma said wondering who or what a Padfoo was.

Five minutes later Dobby and this enormous black wolf hound came trotting out of the change room with a red ribbon around his neck and his long black fur all bouffant out making him twice the size.

"Padfoo!" Harry laughed as the grim came over and jumped up his front paws onto Harry shoulders and licked his nose as Harry hugged him back and Hermione ran her fingers through his shiny clean coat.

"I would say Dobby won that challenge." Hermione said.

"Thank you, Dobby. This is the best present ever." Harry said as Padfoo changed back into Sirius wearing a bright loud red Hawaiian shirt. "But won't the Ministry detect your magic?"

Dobby saw the concern on Harry's face and remembered what happened before.

"The Great Harry Potter must not be angry, the normal Ministry of Magic detectors don't detect Elf magic and the sensor is about ten miles away." Dobby said.

"Oh, how then?"

"There were four special magic detection sensors in the Great Harry Potter's old home."

"Oh, I am not really surprised and please call me just Harry."

"Okay, just Harry." Dobby said as Hermione and Emma chuckled.

"No, Dobby! Harry!" Harry said as he pointed to Dobby and then to himself.

"Would Harry like Dobby to place Elf Wards around Harry's new home to block the Ministry Sensors and keep bad nasty wizards and witches away?"

"That would be great!" Emma said before Harry could say anything and Dobby waved his hands and they saw the air ripple as the Elf wards went up.

"It is done, Harry. Whitebeard's monitoring charms won't work now." Dobby said.

"What?" Hermione and Emma said. "Can you remove them?"

Dobby nodded and removed the monitoring charms with a snap of his fingers and they saw little balls of light pop out on Harry, Hermione, Hedwig, Crookshanks, and their clothes and things that came with them from Hogwarts in particular his father's Cloak of Invisibility which now seemed to be more invisible than before, and interestingly enough also on Sirius and Moony. Harry was disappointed that the headmaster had interfered while Hermione was furious and lost all respect for the manipulative interfering old fool. Her respect of authority figures had taken a big hit with the Tri-Wizard Tournament fiasco.

"Can Dobby hang the large Spectrascope?" Dobby asked Emma as he pointed to the framed photo.

"Oh, can you place it on that wall?" Emma was thankful for a distraction to change mood back to happiness. She would discuss the matter of the headmaster later with Dan. She pointed to where she would like the photo and Dobby snapped his fingers as the large six by eight foot gilded frame photo floated across the room and stuck to the wall. "Perfect Dobby. Would you like to stay for dinner?"

Dobby shook his head sadly. "Dobby is caring for a friend."

"Oh, well you and your friend are welcome to come to dinner." Emma countered as she wasn't going to take no as an answer from the helpful elf who had done so much for her daughter.

That really brightened up Dobby and he popped away to soon return with a sad looking Winky. Emma couldn't help herself as she knelt down to pick up and hugged Winky.

Dobby spoke hopefully. "Winky needs a family?"

As Winky snuggled into the caring arms of Emma, she could sense that she had a little magic and the love she felt in her heart warmed her.

"But wouldn't Winky want to be free?" Hermione couldn't help herself. "You're free Dobby and you're happy?"

Harry saw the fear in Dobby's eyes and wondered. "Dobby might be free of the Malfoys but he might not be a free elf?"

Dobby looked down at his feet. "The Great Harry Potter must not be angry. Dobby is free of the Malfoys but as the Great Harry Potter freed Dobby, Dobby is now the Great Harry Potter's elf. An elf needs the bond to survive."

"Oh?" Harry said. "I didn't know and it is still Harry. I am not angry with you, I was just happy to help you get free of the Malfoys."

"Whitebeard told Dobby not to tell you and let Dobby work at Hogwarts as he said that Dobby would not be welcomed at Harry's old home." Dobby sadly said as he twisted his ears.

"Stop that Dobby!" Harry said softly as Dobby released his ears and Harry locked eyes with Hermione and had a quick silent conversation that went like this. _'Harry?' 'I didn't know.' 'Oh?' 'Could you help Winky?_ '

But Harry and Hermione didn't notice Emma's keen eye as she watched their silent conversation and then turned to her husband and had their own silent conversation as they discussed how impressed they were with this young boy their daughter had brought home and how much he cared for her. So they decided to do everything they could to help him and his friends.

Harry turned to Dobby and said quietly. "We need to talk later, Dobby. Maybe we can help each other. The headmaster was wrong to tell you not to tell me about the bond."

Dobby smiled and then looked at Winky.

Hermione looked at Winky in her mother's arms and couldn't say no.

But Winky surprised them all and looked at Emma. "Winky could bond with you? Winky can feel that you have magic, the magic of a little child but you have enough magic for Winky to bond with."

"Oh?" Emma was surprised and looked at Dan who smiled a yes and then at Hermione who nodded. "Of course I will bond with you, Winky. What do I have to do?"

Winky moved Emma's hand over Winky's heart and there was a white glow as the bond took hold.

"Oh, wow!" Everyone said as Emma felt the void in her heart that came when Hermione went away to Hogwarts start to fill with love again as Hermione moved to hug her mother as she now realised why the hugs from her mother seemed just a bit more magical than the loving hugs from her father.

Dan let Emma and Hermione have their moment as he took Harry, Sirius and Moony over to his barbeque to cook the meat for dinner and enjoy a drink and talk. Well they sat, talked and drank while Harry happily took over the barbeque and cooked the steaks, bacon, onions and mushrooms to perfection, while Hedwig and Crookshanks kept him company and were happy to sample Harry's cooking as he gave small samples to Dan, Sirius and Moony, who showed their appreciation.

Dobby, Winky, Hermione and Emma went into the kitchen to prepare the rest of the meal. Well actually Winky tried to help Dobby while Emma and Hermione watched as Emma went over the talk with Hermione. Yes that talk.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Thank you for reading.


	6. And the Magic grew to fill the castle

Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again.

Chapter 6. And the Magic grew to fill the castle.

14/08/18 Beta by alix33. Thank you.

I don't own the Harry Potter verse. Just playing.

Sorry for the delay and the chapter is still a little rough in places but my muse wanted to move on with the story.

Thank you for all your kind reviews.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

The joy of the students in the Great Hall continued to feed into the ancient Magic that was awakening within the castle.

The Magic of that Night was growing and it will melt the cold hearts of those who thought that they were better than you, and change their stars.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Meanwhile at Hogwarts, Draco and his girlfriends had had a positively dreadful day as some evil enemy had viciously swapped their mouths around while they sat innocently at breakfast. With his godfather missing, Draco was in a dire position as Crabbe had his mouth, he had to drag him around so he could speak while he had Goyle's mouth. Pansy was in the same position with Goyle having her mouth and she had Crabbe's mouth. They had to fix this fast but to only person Draco could trust in the castle was his godfather, so they had to find him. The four of them had to stick together as they searched the castle looking for their missing Head of House. They searched the dungeons, the potions classroom, the library and the castle grounds down to the Forbidden Forest until the stomachs of Crabbe and Goyle were growling too much. So they returned to the Great Hall for lunch only to discover what Draco ate went straight into Goyle's stomach which meant that all the disgusting stuff Crabbe ate went into Draco's stomach and he quickly became full and bloated while Goyle was starving on the dainty little delicacies that Draco normally ate and wanted to eat more but what he ate went into Pansy's stomach which was already full to bursting and she was slowly going green.

Desperate, Draco tried to get Marcus Flint to help remove the curse but when he heard Draco's voice coming out of Crabbe's face, he couldn't stop himself from laughing at their predicament. That was too much for Pansy's stomach and it discharged itself and Goyle projectile vomited all over Flint. The sight and smell caused Draco's stomach to discharge itself and Crabbe projectile vomited over Flint again. As it would not do to cause a scene at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall, Flint's friend, Miles Bletchley, waved his wand and promptly banished the disgusting mess and sent it into the iron bucket the redhead moRonald was using, while Draco grabbed his girlfriends and quickly left the Great Hall as the other students started to laugh at their well deserved misfortune.

They search for Draco's missing godfather all day and the last place they looked was the Hospital ward. Madam Pomfrey saw them walk in and asked. "Do you wish to see your Head of House?"

They nodded their heads rather than risk speaking.

"I gave him some Dreamless Sleep potion earlier so he won't wake up for some hours." She stated as Draco led the girlfriends to sit on the bed next to their Head of House.

"So you will wait?" Asked Madam Pomfrey and they nodded again.

Draco didn't want to share their problem in front of the daffy headmaster, and he had learnt his lesson to keep his big mouth shut, so he wrote a note to asked Madam Pomfrey to put up a silence ward while Crabbe and Goyle placed the privacy screens around the bed of their Head of House and the bed next to him.

When Severus awoke from his nap and saw his favourite godson with three of his least favourite Slytherins sitting on the bed next to him. He just raised a questioning eyebrow.

Draco wrote on his piece of parchment and showed his Head of House. _'Someone_ _put a terrible_ _curse_ _on_ _us!'_

Severus raised his eyebrow a little higher.

Draco wrote. _'It wasn't Scarhead or the blood traitors!'_

He gave Draco an annoyed look and dropped his eyebrow.

Draco quickly crossed out what he had written and re-wrote. _'_ _It wasn't Potter or his friends_ _!'_

He raised his eyebrow a little.

Draco wrote. _'They swapped our mouths around!'_

He raised his eyebrow a little higher.

Draco wrote. _'We tried to get Flint to help us but he laughed in our faces. I don't trust anyone else!'_

Severus raised his eyebrow a little higher.

Draco looked at his girlfriends and turned back to his Head of House as Crabbe spoke with Draco's voice. "Please sir, you are our only hope!"

It seemed so incongruous to Severus when he heard Crabbe speak with Draco's whining desperate voice, that he had to use all his will power not to smile or laugh. But when Goyle spoke with Pansy's high-pitched angry voice, he almost lost it. He looked at his wand that was on the table between the beds and Draco stood up and passed it to him.

Severus waved the wand at Draco and his girlfriends as he said. "Finite Incantatem!"

But nothing happened, so Severus tried again. _"Finite Incantatem Maximus!"_

Severus watched as their mouths returned to the right faces and wondered who in Slytherin was powerful enough to cast such a devious hex to swap their mouths so effectively. As such a cunning Slytherin was finally worthy of the points that he would give them. He will need to keep a close eye on Draco and when he finds out who did it. He will give them five hundred points for teaching the boy to act like a Slytherin and keep his big mouth shut.

While Draco spoke with his own mouth. "Thank you, godfather. We will never let that happen again! Oh! And there is a little matter of a totally undeserved detention..."

Severus had heard enough and stopped his godson with a cold stare. Whatever detention that they had received was so totally deserved. Then he dismissed them with a flick of his eyes and they quickly scrambled from the Hospital ward like the Keystone Kops. Thankful of their expeditious departure as he couldn't hold his laughter anymore, as he laughed and laughed until tears came to his eyes and he wondered what Slippery Lucius will say about that.

The Mistress of Pain showed up with some more Dreamless Sleep potion for him. This time the purple coloured potion tasted of bananas.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

"Well dinner is ready." Emma announced and they all moved to the dining room where Emma sat Winky down on the chair next to her, with Dan, Moony and Sirius, while Dobby sat next to Harry, Hermione and Hedwig. Crookshanks had been sneaking bits of meat from Harry all afternoon and was sound asleep in his armchair by the fire.

It was the first family Christmas dinner that Harry was welcomed to actually participated in the eating thereof, so it was the best so far, surrounded by love and his family. Padfoo and Moony kept them entertained with stories of James and Lily which was good as Hermione hadn't shared all the details of the adventures that Harry and her had had with her parents.

But there was something troubling Hermione. "Harry, why did you tell Professor McGonagall that you couldn't dance?"

Sirius and Moony snorted as Sirius went onto explained. "Anyone who could fly like Harry does, would be a great dancer."

Moony added. "Most definitely! Harry is a gifted natural flyer. So he has an innate sense of balance, situational awareness, and presence of mind. You were just a bit shy, weren't you, Harry?"

Hermione looked at Harry and he knew she really wanted to know.

"Er well um." Harry started to collect his thoughts. "When Professor McGonagall announced the Yule Ball, Ronald was horrified and said he couldn't dance and we had just become friends again. I guess I didn't want to show him up, I suppose."

"Well, everyone knows you can dance now, Harry." Emma said.

Dan added with a chuckle. "Especially with the right princess."

Hermione looked Harry in the eye. "So no more holding back!"

"Yes, dear!" Harry whispered as everyone laughed.

Winky and Dobby insisted that they would clear the dinner table and wash up and the Grangers were treated to a display of magic that seemed to come straight out of the Disney movie Beauty and the Beast, as Dobby and Winky clicked their fingers and the dishes and cutlery came alive and waltzed as they floated their way to wash themselves in the sink then continue as the tea towels dried them as they danced their way back to their cupboards. Then the pots and pans washed themselves spotless as the sponges flew around to clean the kitchen spick-and-span.

Hermione's parents were overjoyed to watch the magical display by the two elves and she was so happy to show magic to her parents for the first time that she cast a Patronus. "Expecto Patronum!" And a beautiful silver doe walked around the room to be joined with a silver stag, grim and wolf. It brought a tear to Sirius and Moony's eyes to see the four of them together again. Both Dan and Emma could feel the love and joy that radiated from the glowing Patronuses.

Moving into the living room, Hermione noticed that the giant gilded framed photo that Harry had given to her parents had a title along the bottom frame that read; _X Spectrascope_ _IV_ with the rune for dimensions, with a number of ancient runes carved into the gilded frame going up the right hand side. She started to examine them as Moony came over to help.

"Oh? A Spectrascope? Xeno's wife was working on those." Moony said as he ran his finger over the frame. "And it is a four Dimensional projector."

"Four dimensions?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, a wizard considers a TV to be three dimensions as it shows a two dimensional image at a different time and place."

"Oh, so magical four dimensions would be Muggle 3D."

"Yes, and these runes to control the volume, play and pause the image and a zoom with the 3D feature which should project a life like image into the room. Plus there are number runes to indicate that the gilded frame had been preloaded with ten other images." Moony explained.

Hermione clicked on the magical 4D rune and the moving image came out of the frame and was projected into the room to show a brilliant life like image of Harry and Hermione waltzing. Then she clicked through the preloaded images and they were of the Yule Ball except for the last one. That was taken from the first task. Emma gasped to have a 3D image of a real live flying fire breathing dragon appeared in her living room chasing a little Harry flying on his broom around the Hogwarts Castle. The image was so life like that they could feel the heat from the hellfire of the dragon breath and it showed the whole castle and grounds of Hogwarts in brilliant detail.

Hermione and Harry froze, fearful what her mother would say. That dragon looked so vicious and enormous while Harry was so small.

Emma turned to the frozen Harry and said. "If I ever get to Hogwarts, you are so going to take me flying on that broom!"

"Oh! Okay, fine. Anything you want." A relieved Harry quickly agreed while they could see Dan waving his hands and shaking his head to indicate that Harry should say no.

While Hermione cried. "Muuummm!"

In that embarrassed frustrated exasperate tone that only teenage daughters can achieve. While the ever helpful Dobby popped in with a winning smile and holding a certain broom.

"Yes! Thank you Dobby!" Emma said as she grabbed the broom and a certain young wizard while Padfoo and Moony laughed. Thankfully the Grangers had a large home with high ceiling and Harry was a very good flyer but the smile on Emma's face was priceless.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Later when things had calmed down a little, Hermione put on her favourite holiday movie and she and Harry snuggled up together in a big armchair and promptly fell asleep. Dobby covered them with a blanket and when the movie finished Dan and Emma couldn't bring themselves to wake up the sleeping children as they looked so cute. Winky popped in with hot chocolate and marshmallows to roast in the fireplace as the four adults sat and talked as they thought about how this day had turned out. None of them in their wildest dreams could have imagined such a day.

They heard Harry cry out Hermione's name in his sleep and they thought he was having a nightmare as they watched the sleeping Hermione move her arms to snuggle into Harry and he settle down.

"Oh, wow?" Emma said as they realised how late it was.

Dan and Emma still couldn't bring themselves to move the kids to their bedrooms as they still looked so cute, then Winky said that she would stay to look after her family.

Dan and Emma turned to Sirius and Moony. "You are welcome to use the guest rooms."

"Oh, thank you very much but I haven't slept in a bed in years and that rug and fireplace look so inviting." Sirius said as he turned into a great big black grim with a bright red bow around his neck and curled up on the rug with his back to the fire.

"Oh?"

"Sirius has had it very rough for years and this is the happiest that I had ever seen him." Moony said sadly as he picked up a blanket.

"Yes, when Harry calls him Padfoo, you can see his eyes brighten as if he is remembering a happier time." Emma added.

Remus chuckled. "Padfoo was all little Harry could manage and Sirius loved to hear him say it as he would give Harry rides on Padfoot's back."

They heard Padfoot start to snore and then whimper quietly.

"It helps with the nightmares if I stay with him."

"Oh, well goodnight then." Dan said as Moony lay down on the rug and used the grim as a pillow as Winky tucked the blanket around him with a snap of her fingers.

Dan looked at Emma and they decided to snuggle up together on the couch and Winky tucked a blanket around them with a snap of her fingers. Emma turned to the two elves to say goodnight when she saw them snuggled up together under a blanket on the other armchair.

"Sweet dreams then." Emma said as Winky turned off the lights.

That was when they noticed that Hermione and Harry were glowing like Emma and Winky did.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

It didn't take long for Professor McGonagall to notice that she was a few students short after the Yule Ball but she had a very good idea where they could be. It only took one floo call to Longbottom Hall to confirm her hunch but she was very surprised to talk to her second most favourite student after Lily Potter in the form of Alice Longbottom. They were reluctant to confirm that Miss Granger had indeed taken the missing Harry Potter to her home until she told them that the manipulative old goat (her words) was trapped under the gentle care of the Madam of Pain.

She knew the headmaster would be most upset if Mr Potter was missing from the castle. So that meant that she would have to have the correct parchment work with a signed approval from Mr Potter's guardian for his stay away from Hogwarts. That involved a trip to the Dursleys which didn't go well at all after she discovered the cupboard under the stairs and the locks on the door with a cat flap and the bars on the windows that she had heard about. But the headmaster had reassured her that they were for Mr Potter's protection and didn't look as bad as they sounded. In short the unhappy Dursleys refused to sign the permission slip if that would get the boy into trouble, and then had the audacity to complain loudly how much a problem they had to enrol the boy in Muggle school due to the lack of documentation from the stupid old goat (Their words).

Professor McGonagall knew this mess had Dumbledore's sticky manipulating fingers all over it. So she did some research to discover the old fool hadn't even bothered to lodge any paperwork in the Muggle Ministry so there was no record of the Dursleys' guardianship of Harry Potter which meant that they were not and had never been his legal guardians despite what the headmaster insisted, and Harry should have never gone there in the first place and that he most definitely should have never returned there after his first year at Hogwarts. She was furious at the manipulative headmaster.

Professor McGonagall went to check at the Ministry of Magic and found evidence of the same sticky manipulating fingers. There was no record of Harry Potter in the section for the letter 'P' for Potter or 'H' for Harry or in the 0fficial Hogwarts folder. So she asked herself; what would Dumbledore do? And it was obvious as she remembered how the headmaster sometimes referred to _**his**_ school and she decided to checked in the section for the letter 'T' for _**THE**_ _PRESTIGIOUS SCHOOL OF HOGWARTS,_ subtitle: _HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_ and found a single thin folder with that title hand written in loopy writing on the top, and in that thin folder was two pieces of parchment. One was the enrolment of Harry Potter into Hogwarts which made him a Hogwarts student at the tender age of one year old, and the second piece of parchment was the required list of guardians for Harry Potter. She almost cried as she realised how heartbreaking it was for parents in those dark days to have multiple guardians listed. James and Lily had already lost enough trust in the headmaster to go and have eight magical guardians registered for their baby boy, Harry. None of whom were Dumbledore nor were the Dursleys listed for the Muggle world. Harry's Magical Guardians were listed as James and Lily plus godparents Sirius Black and Alice Longbottom with the secondary guardians listed as Minerva McGonagall, Amelia Bones, Remus Lupin and oddly enough, an Emma Granger nee Puckle, who was listed as a squib neighbour. The official Ministry of Magic stamp showed that the record of the Guardian List was made on the thirtieth of October, 1981. But someone had written over the parchment in the familiar red loopy handwriting, See A. P. W. B. Dumbledore by order of the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. It was dated but most of that line was smudged and unreadable except for the beginning which read _'Dated: First of Nov..._ '

Normally the old Professor McGonagall would have just referred this mess back to the headmaster to deal with, knowing full well that he would do nothing useful. But the new Professor McGonagall just wanted to go and rip the manipulative old fool a new one but unfortunately she would have to wait until the old one has healed before she could do that. It really angered her Scottish educational pride to deliberately misfile something and it was made worse by the fact that only a Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts or higher would be allowed to access that particular folder for enrolment matters. The headmaster had hidden his manipulations well.

So the new Professor McGonagall did the next best thing and took the matter to her old friend Amelia Bones, Head of the DMLE.

"Oh, Minerva." Amelia greeted her old friend. "What a nice surprise and I must tell you how much I enjoyed reading the Yule Ball edition of the Quibbler. The foldouts were brilliant."

"Thank you, Amelia." Minerva responded with a smile. "Everyone loved those foldouts in the Quibbler. Could you find your Susan?"

"Oh, yes, and I recognise who she was dancing with. But the waltz of Mr Potter and Miss Granger was breathtaking but I still haven't recognised the Prince Charming and Cinderella couple?"

Minerva chuckled. "Oh, that's..." Minerva stopped as Amelia put up her hand.

"Thanks Minerva, but it is more fun to investigate to find it out. I have made it a task for the first year Auror recruits and so far none of them recognise the couple even though they only left Hogwarts last year."

"Oddly enough I can understand that."

"Interesting?" Amelia wondered as she made arrangements for some tea. "Now, what can I do for you?"

Minerva smiled like a Cheshire cat. "I have come across an intriguing problem about Mr Harry Potter."

"Oh, do tell."

"I needed his guardian to sign a permission slip for Mr Potter to cover his absence for the holidays."

"Oh? Does the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts normally pay house calls to guardians?" Amelia asked, as she wondered why her friend was here.

"No, not normally but as you can imagine nothing is normal around Mr Potter and to cut a long story short. I discovered that the headmaster in his infinite care for Mr Potter, had overlooked registering Mr Potter's relatives as guardians with the Muggle Ministry."

"Oh? So Mr Potter has been staying with them illegally?"

"Quite. So I checked the Ministry of Magic records and found absolutely nothing. It was as if Mr Potter didn't exist. There was nothing in the Potter file for him or in the Hogwarts files."

"Oh? Yes, I couldn't find anything too when I looked. The Chief Warlock was most unhelpful."

Minerva smiled. "Until I found this file for a school called _T_ _HE PRESTIGIOUS SCHOOL OF HOGWARTS_ , subtitle: HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY."

Amelia took the thin folder and read the hand written title on the top corner in easily recognised loopy handwriting. She open the thin folder to find only two pieces of parchment. One was the enrolment of Harry Potter into Hogwarts which made Dumbledore his headmaster and the second piece of parchment was the required list of guardians for Harry Potter. She was surprised to read that Sirius Black was listed as a godfather.

"So, that is where the manipulative old fool had hidden it." Amelia said. "Well the headmaster or Headmistress of Hogwarts was made guardian of war orphans by the Wizengamot as part of the Emergency War Time provisions which ended a week after Voldemort vanished. So they are no longer valid and the war orphans were all assigned separate guardians. Plus the Chief Warlock never had the authority to seal files like that. But that didn't stop Dumbledore from trying."

"No, little laws don't seem to apply to him."

"And once Mr Harry Potter was enrolled into Hogwarts, that would make Dumbledore his headmaster and he could act for his parents while the sealing of the second piece of parchment that was the required list of guardians for Harry Potter. That would give him total control but no responsibility as that would fall to whoever he left Mr Potter with."

"Yes, very Slytherin of him." Minerva agreed.

"And he has deliberately misfiled it."

"Yes!"

"What? You are not protecting your headmaster?" Amelia asked as she wondered what has happened to her old friend.

"No!" Minerva said most definitely.

"So, I have heard that the headmaster and the potion professor had been mauled by some savage cat like creature and are currently indisposed."

Minerva smiled.

"Right then. Well this sealing is no longer valid." Amelia said as she removed the red ink with a wave of her wand and the headmaster's unofficial interference in the life of Harry Potter was officially over.

"So, that means that Mr Harry Potter's official Magical Guardians are as per his parents' wishes."

"Yes, I concur." Amelia agreed. "And with you at the school, I can not imagine any need for the headmaster to decide anything for Mr Potter again."

"Well I am just wondering whose signature on this permission slip would frighten the headmaster the most." Minerva smiled like a Cheshire Cat again.

As did her friend Amelia as she picked up a quill and signed the permission slip and added _Guardian of Mr Harry Potter_ , in red ink.

"Makes my day!" Amelia smiled as she was happy to ruin the headmaster's day after all the crap he has pulled. "Have you heard Augusta's good news?"

"Yes, it's amazing! I have spoken to Alice and she seems to be recovering fine. Have you been invited to the Longbottom New Year's Eve Party?"

"Yes, it would be a good idea for the Guardians of Mr Potter to get together and meet him."

"See you there." Amelia said as her friend left.

Professor McGonagall made copies of the Guardian Parchment for the school records and to give to Harry when he returned to the school in the new year. She then wrote a letter to Petunia Dursley to inform her that she was never the guardian of her nephew and he would not be returning there. Plus she was to ignore any correspondence from the headmaster and if possible to vanish so he could never find them. She sent the letter with the biggest, meanest owl she could find. An old giant Eagle-Owl with razor sharp talons and a vicious bad attitude to match.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Hermione and Emma escorted Harry to do _a little clothes shopping_ with the sales that were currently on. They took Padfoo and Moony to see the magical store called Harrods, and bought new wardrobes for each of them. Harry, Padfoo and Moony complained about the cost but Dan was more than happy to spend the money as it was the budget he had put aside for their winter holiday which had been cancelled as Hermione would be at Hogwarts for the Yule Ball, and yes it was a lot of money, but the smile on the happy faces of Hermione and Emma was priceless! Plus they got to shop together which absolutely exhausted the guys even with Dobby and Winky popping the bags and packages home. Harry and Padfoo reached a compromise with Dan for the money and agreed to open a Gringotts Vault for Hermione and deposit the galleons there. The deal was sealed after Harry suggested that Hermione could use it to buy books and Dan couldn't disappoint his little princess nor stop her from buying books.

Sirius saw the smile on Harry's face as he now had clothes that actually fitted him and he decided to do everything he could to keep that smile on his godson's face. It almost broke his heart to see the disappointment in Harry's eyes when he had to escape on Buckbeak that night. He had pleaded his innocence in the quick talk he had had with Dumbledore in Flitwick's office and the old man had said he would do what he could and asked him to lay low. Then when he had heard of Harry being caught up in this Tri-Wizard Tournament, he had again contacted the headmaster but all he got was how sorry and afraid the old manipulative fool was and how he had been unable to help for fear that Harry might lose his magic due to the binding magical contract. Now as he saw how happy Hermione was making his godson and how his godson had involved him in that happiness. Sirius vowed to be the best dogfather he always wanted to be to ensure Harry and Hermione would never have a reason not to smile.

This necessitated a visit to Diagon Alley for new robes for everyone and a visit to Gringotts where Sirius was able to see to the affairs of the House Black and take up his Lordship as well as looking to the status of the House Potter. Sadly they were not surprised to discover that Lucius Malfoy had attempted to seize the vaults of the House of Black after the suspicious death of Sirius' grandfather, Lord Arcturus Black, in 1991. But Gringotts had refused Malfoy access to the Black Vaults while Sirius lived. But that didn't stop Lucius from claiming the Black seat in the Wizengamot and moving into the Black Manor, called by the auspicious name of; The Observatorio. Nor changing the name of the Black Manor to Malfoy Manor after the suspicious deaths of Sirius' great aunt Cassiopeia and aunt Lucretia in 1992. Sirius was more than disappointed with the Chief Warlock for allowing that to happen but Sirius now knew who was behind the Kiss-on-Sight order by the Minister of Magic.

The affairs of House Potter had been well looked after by his Gringotts manager, Goldenclaw. But Harry sadly discovered that the headmaster had been accessing his trust vault but had not been allowed to access the other Potter Vaults. Goldenclaw insisted that Harry be examined before he could take his Head of House ring and the Goblin healer found the expected bindings and hexes. They were able to remove the bindings and hexes as well as healing Harry's eyes, so he was no longer the only student in Hogwarts that needed glasses. Harry's happiness shone in his bright emerald green eyes. Harry used his Head of House ring to bring Hermione and her parents under the protection of House Potter and removed the headmaster and Molly Weasley from accessing his trust vault. Sirius also brought Hermione and her parents under the protection of House Black and brought his cousin Andromeda and her family back into the House Black, and wondered what to do with Bella and Narcissa.

Harry was surprised to find that he had more vaults and gold but he was very happy to discover he had other properties as well as the Potter Manor to live in. But the greatest treasure that Harry discovered was his mother's diary and text books full of hand written notes with suggested improvements. Hermione was more than happy to read and check the notes and improvements.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Harry and Hermione with her parents, Winky, Dobby, Padfoo and Moony, went to Longbottom Hall for a New Year Eve party with Neville and Luna, and met Neville's parents, Frank and Alice who were recovering quickly under the care of his grandmother, Augusta. Other guests included Amelia Bones, some Professors, Andromeda Tonks and her family. Sirius thought it was very funny when their daughter with the pink hair took a shine to Moony. They met up with Professors McGonagall, Flitwick and Sprout at the party and discover what had been happening at Hogwarts.

The next day they returned to Longbottom Hall to discuss Hogwarts and the headmaster's behaviour as well as Harry's guardianship which was a little moot after Harry was able to take up his Lordship but Harry explained this way.

"Thank you for your concern and offer but after the Dursleys and Dumbledore, the idea of a guardian has left a bad taste." Harry explained to the sad faces of the adults. "That's why I jumped at the chance to be free of the Dursleys and particularly the unhelpful headmaster. But I am not too naive to think that I don't need help and guidance of adults who placed my happiness and needs first. So I would really appreciate to have some Guiding Angels."

The adults appreciated the wisdom of the lad and were more than happy to become his Guiding Angels. Padfoo came up with the new title for their group and everyone loved it. _The Order of the Guiding Angels of Harry Potter_. Hermione thought that was better than Padfoo's second choice; _The Order of the Avenging Angels of Harry Potter_.

In their first meeting of the Order, they had established that Emma was indeed the Emma Granger nee Puckle squib neighbour of James and Lily Potter and that opened the question of what had happened and Dumbledore's involvement. It appeared that the headmaster had been very busy indeed on the first of November, 1981. Sirius innocence was confirmed by Frank, Alice, Harry and Hermione, and Harry mentioned his nightmares and had a good idea of who the rat was with but not where unfortunately.

Sadly, Amelia Bones explained. "It would be very difficult to clear your name, Sirius, as everyone knew how close you were to James and Lily but it was the headmaster who was able to convinced everyone that you had betrayed them and as a Black you was guilty, and your own actions to catch the rat had been very counterproductive as everyone believed that you was going after Harry. Now they remembered that Sirius Black was so dangerous that Fudge had to surround Hogwarts with Dementors for a year with the headmaster's blessing, and now after that debacle, Fudge was determined to blame you for everything bad. Even if we could destroy the Ministry's case against you, but that would involve having the two key witness, Albus Dumbledore, to change his testimony that he knew that Sirius Black was not the Secret-Keeper of the Potters at the time of Voldemort's attack. The second key witness against you is Cornelius Fudge himself who was involved in your arrest and heard you confessing and blaming yourself for the murder of your best friends. Umbridge had used the capture of _the ruthless Sirius Black who betrayed the Potters_ to help clear a path for Fudge to slide into the Minister of Magic gig. It was her idea to award the Order of Merlin to Pettigrew and as Pettigrew's mother was a Muggle, the Minister graciously accepted the award on her behalf and has it mounted in his office. Fudge's _kiss on sight_ order has the support of Lucius Malfoy. It wouldn't make any difference if we caught Peter Pettigrew alive as too many powerful wizards would have too much to lose. So the only way for you to get a fair trial before the Wizengamot would be over the dead bodies of Dumbledore, Fudge, Umbridge, Malfoy, Pettigrew and Voldemort."

"So, what you are saying is that my freedom might take a little longer." Sirius said to lighten the mood.

Amelia snorted at the attempted joke. "Sirius, I knew you were innocent but it was only after I became the Director of the DMLE that I had clearance to search the records, and it took me six months to find the parchment of your arrest. It had been filed with your secret Animagus Registration under the name of Padfoot and only showed that you were arrested and sent directly to Azkaban. The transfer was signed off by Millicent Bagnold, Barty Crouch and the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot."

"You mean, Dumbledore?" Sirius questioned.

"Precisely!"

"Oh!"

So they decided that Sirius Black had to die for a while and as all the Ministry's photos of Sirius were fourteen years out of date. A healed and healthy Sirius could be anyone he wanted to be and he could use one of the Black family rings to conceal his appearance. He chose to be Moony's blond American cousin, Seriously Grimm or Sgrimm for short but he still answered to Padfoo, Snuffles and Hey-You.

They decided for Emma and Dan to see Andromeda Tonks when she visited the next time to see Frank and Alice, and have their memories checked.

As for the headmaster and the accursed Tri-Wizard Tournament, Professor McGonagall said she would enlist of the support of the other professors except for Moody and Snape as they were too close to the headmaster, to help Harry in any way they could and ensure the headmaster was never alone with any students, particularly Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna. Plus they arranged for Hermione's parents to visit Hogsmeade on the same days that the students did. While Madam Bones assigned Auror Tonks to attend Hogwarts using her special ability to go undercover. But Dan and Emma were still concerned for the safety of Hermione but they realised it would be better to stay under the headmaster's radar.

Augusta's brother, Algernon, also not known as Croaker, the head of the Unspeakables, had come there to check Harry's cursed scar. He had been blocked from seeing Harry by Dumbledore and he wanted to curse the manipulative old fool after his scans revealed the dark magic that the scar had once contained. He knew it had contained a Horcrux but somehow that had been removed and replaced with another curse which tied the scar to someone else like a Protean Charm. He understood what had happened after Harry explained about the Chamber of Secrets and getting bitten by the Basilisk and healed by Fawkes the Phoenix.

Madam Bones asked Harry to explain his nightmares and he described the ones he had over the summer with Babymort, Nagini and Wormtail and the large old rundown manor they were hiding in. When he mentioned that they were talking about death of a Ministry of Magic witch by the name of Bertha Jorkins, Madam Bones was all ears as the witch had been reported missing since the summer. Croaker offered to extract a copy of the memories of the nightmares and Harry gave Croaker a copy of all the memories he had of Voldemort from that night in 1981 until now including Quirrellmort and Tom-mort. Croaker called his elf to bring his special Department of Mysteries Pensieve and together they watched and received more information on Voldemort than they had gained over the last twenty-five years. Madam Bones decided to launch a special secret investigation into Tom Marvolo Riddle but she would discover most of the Muggle records and the orphanage had been destroyed during the Blitz.

Harry and Hermione had a great holiday with her parents, Winky, Dobby, Padfoo and Moony. All too soon, Anastasia, the undercover Auror, Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna were back on the Hogwarts Express.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Severus Snape's new positive attitude was rewarded as his posterior healed before the New Year while the sad headmaster's negative attitude kept him in the gentle care of Madam Pomfrey.

Severus put his plans into action as soon as the redhead was day released by Madam Pomfrey but the redhead still had to return to the hospital ward to sleep in the chains for traction while his bones healed overnight. Severus had the red dunderhead cleaning filthy cauldrons laced with Veritaserum and yes, he could have just used Legilimency to read the imbecile's mind to find out what he wanted but that would have meant that he would to wade through the cesspool that was the mind of Ronald Bilius Weasley and his stomach wasn't that strong. He discovered that three years ago on the afternoon before Quirrellmort went for the stone. He had found the three Gryffindors acting suspiciously being inside on a warm beautiful day and he had made to mistake to tried and read the mind of the redhead. He shook his head, never again!

Besides cleaning filthy cauldrons laced with Veritaserum was more fun and it only took two detentions with the right sneering remarks about Potter to discover from the jealous redhead, what part the Weasleys played in the headmaster's plans for Harry. He discovered that the plans were to use the mother and youngest son to manipulate, control and isolate Harry Potter from the moment he entered platform 9 ¾ and their reward was for the youngest Weasley to get him if he lived. Once the red dunderhead started spilling his frustrations he couldn't stop. Severus was surprised to find that the Hat had wanted to place Harry in Slytherin and after how much effort the idiot put in to blacken the name of Slytherin House and make it sound evil, only to discover that Harry didn't want to be in the same house as his loudmouth godson. The immaturity, greed, jealousies and hatred of Ronald Bilius, sickened him and he wondered how he ever got into Gryffindor. He was shocked to discover how much the redhead knew about Harry's abusive childhood in Durzkaban and he confirmed that with a brief bit of surface scan Legilimency while the memories were at the front of the idiot's mind, and saw the bars on the windows, multiple locks on the door, the cat flap, and an angry Vernon Dursley. He was disgusted to find how little Harry knew about his family and heritage. And all that directly contradicted what the headmaster had most assuredly told him.

Severus snorted, some master spy he turned out to be when he couldn't recognise that Dumbledore had been lying to him. After what happened to Lily, he just wanted to believe what the headmaster was saying was true and Lily's son was loved but he had trusted the wrong damn dark lord.

Severus wondered about the immaturity, greed, jealousies and hatred of Ronald Bilius, and had him tested for bewitching potions and hexes. He couldn't find any hexes but the red dunderhead did test positive for Amortentia and at a level that would indicate that the idiot had fallen into a large cauldron of the stuff when he was a baby and drunk the lot for it to have such a lasting effect on him. He couldn't detect any foreign key to the Amortentia so it was pure when the red dunderhead had fallen in and he had accidentally keyed the bewitching potion to the dunderhead himself. No wonder the red dunderhead loves himself so much.

So Severus decided to brew up a large cauldron of concentrated antidote for Amortentia poisoning and flavour it with roast chicken gravy and see how long it lasts in the same room as the dunderhead, while he pretended to audit his potions ingredients storeroom. He had already discovered that someone was stealing the ingredients to make a lot of Polyjuice Potion and he had decided to boil up the leeches as that would not affect the Polyjuice potion but would cause the user to blow bubbles whenever they opened their mouth. When he returned five minutes later the cauldron was empty and there was gravy on the idiot's hands and long pointy nose.

Severus looked at the dunderhead's face to see if the antidote was having any effect and asked a question about Harry and saw the dunderhead's response was milder than before. So he would have to brew up a lot more antidote and flushing potions.

Thinking back to when Harry's name came out of the Goblet of Fire, Severus noticed for the brief moment when the red dunderhead had chucked a major hissy fit and abandoned Harry, and he had worked with Hermione, Harry's grades improved and he saw the brilliance of Lily coming out of her son. Then after the first task, the red dunderhead was back with that pathetic half-hearted excuse and so was the idiot son of James Potter.

Severus had an epiphany. That was how Dumbledore controlled him. When all he saw was the idiot son of James Potter, he couldn't help himself but despise the boy.

Severus felt ashamed of how opprobriously he had treated Harry and decided to do everything he could to separate the red dunderhead from Harry and Hermione and encourage their growing friendship with Longbottom and Lovegood. He actually liked his photo in the Quibbler after the bad half was ripped off and burnt, as it showed his billowing robes with all those buttons, and that determined expression on his face as he bravely charged on to faced the great evil of the abominable red dunderhead.

That gave Severus the idea to rearrange his fourth year Potions class to have a wizard and witch sitting together. That way he could split up Harry and Weasley, Finnigan and Thomas, and Crabbe and Goyle, and then bring in Lovegood to sit with Longbottom and save a fortune in cauldrons. At first he wanted to drop Weasley back to third year as the boy had only passed on the headmaster's direct orders but that would be a disaster that the third year students didn't deserve. So he decided to give the dunderhead one more second chance and if he failed again, well it wouldn't be pretty.

Severus brought up his suggestion to advance Miss Lovegood to fourth year Potions at the staff meeting held before the students returned. As expected the other professors were surprised at his suggestion. Minerva asked the obvious question.

"Are you changing your spots, Severus?"

To which he straight-faced replied. "Hardly, I am not at cat. Longbottom costs a fortune in cauldrons and from here on the potions are getting more dangerous. You all know Longbottom is a double left foot dunderhead. But if Miss Lovegood can turn him into Prince Charming on the ballroom floor like she did at the Yule Ball. Well I want her to be his potions partner."

They couldn't argue against that and without Dumbledore to block it, all the other Professors thought it was a good idea as Miss Lovegood was the top student of third year but Filius sadly pointed out that she was not enjoying her time in Ravenclaw and after what they saw at the Yule Ball he suggested that the brave little witch might enjoy the House of the Lions. So they agreed to advance Miss Lovegood to fourth year and attend all classes with Gryffindor as they were a witch short with the sad departure of Sally-Anne Perks and not upset the balance of the fourth year Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff classes. Professor Flitwick was happy to do that as he had failed miserably trying to stamp out the bullying in his own house. Professor McGonagall then announced a transfer student by the name Anastasia Romanov was also joining the fourth year Gryffindors.

Severus prepared his seating plan for fourth year Potions to have Harry and Hermione, Neville and Luna at the front of the class with Weasley and Brown at the back. He also realised that as the new transfer student, Anastasia Romanov, had not been sorted but placed directly in Harry's classes, that there was something more to Miss Romanov. So he placed her in a position where she could keep an eye on Harry. Hermione, Neville and Luna, and especially Draco and Weasley.

While Professor McGonagall would speak to Miss Lovegood with the good news when she arrived at Hogwarts the next day. She was sure Miss Lovegood could use Miss Granger's books as she had already memorised them.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Surprisingly it was Dan who quickly noticed the benefits of Emma caring for Winky besides a spotless home, manicured lawns, beautiful gardens, amazing hot dinners, and incredible chocolate desserts, as Winky loved to brush the hair of her mistress, and soon Emma's wild bushy hair calmed down and became controllable into long flowing silky waves that made Emma look absolutely gorgeous. And Winky with a snap of her fingers, could change the outfit her mistress was wearing and even the colour. So Emma could stand in front of her full length mirror and try a dozen different outfits and combinations and colours to get the perfect look in as little as five minutes while Dan had a relaxing cup of coffee and he would be more than happy with the result. And a happy, calm, gorgeous Emma made Dan very happy. Absolutely exhausted but very happy indeed!

Then Winky with a snap of her fingers would wear an outfit to match her mistress.

After helping Emma look gorgeous in the perfect outfit, Winky would pop off to Hogwarts and see what she could do with Hermione's hair. Soon Hermione became happy with her calm flowing waves and looked absolutely gorgeous and that made Harry very happy. Plus Winky could pass on all the important news between Hermione and her mother. Emma was so happy that Hermione was only an elf pop away.

Now Harry had a family that cared for him, he was keeping Hedwig busy flying mail to Padfoo, Remus, Dan and Emma and they made sure to make a fuss over Hedwig every time she arrived.

As Winky was part of the family, Emma insisted that she could use a bedroom and accept some pocket money. Winky only agreed to use the smallest bedroom but she had no idea what to do with ten pound notes that Emma gave her so she hid them under her mattress.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

And the Magic of the Night grew for Harry and Hermione and he loved his new home while the sad headmaster's negative attitude kept him in the care of Madam Pomfrey until two nights before of the return of students in the new year. He was not a happy headmaster as he discovered that so many alarms he had set on the boy had been triggered. He was so angry with so much to correct for the Greater Good and disappeared from the castle without a word.

Unknown to Harry, but the love of his new home had weaken the blood wards around Durzkaban and Dumbledore couldn't find Harry soon enough to stop the blood wards from failing completely and then he couldn't find the Dursleys with No 4 Privet Drive totally empty and abandoned.

The headmaster was not a happy wizard when Harry and Hermione returned to the castle but they didn't care for the schemes of a manipulative old fool as they were in love.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

And the Magic of that Night grew until it filled the ancient Castle of Hogwarts. Such was the positive vibe of the students as they loved the extra Balls. Professors Flitwick and Bathsheda Babbling worked together with the students who remained at the castle for the holidays, to charm and engrave ancient runes on a number of large sea shells which were placed throughout the hallways and filled the castle with music.

Professor Flitwick had very a Slytherin idea and wrote a quote from Dumbledore;

 _Ah, music! A magic beyond all we do here! A. P. W. B. D._

On all the shells so the headmaster's ego wouldn't allow him to remove them.

The castle was filled with beautiful waltzes like Lara's theme and the Blue Danube with many others including tangos and an odd march called The Great Escape which brought a smile onto the face of everyone. Particularly the twirly bit in the middle with the trombones when Professor McGonagall danced a short spinning Highland fling before continuing to walking again. The students soon copied that little bit of fun.

The effect of the beautiful music lifted the doom and gloom of the castle and brightened the hallways. So every broom closet was occupied and the goodwill generated crossed the all powerful house boundaries and broke down the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin as Draco learnt to keep his big mouth shut, while moRonald kept losing his.

That allowed truth and justice to blossom into peace and love.

Then with all that love, the castle awoke and took control of the playlist.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

 _Thank you for reading._


	7. The Great Evil of the Greater Good

Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again.

Chapter 7. The Great Evil of the Greater Good.

10/09/18 Beta by alix33. Thank you, kindly for the inspiration to add the DJ Castle's introduction to _Bohemian Rhapsody!_ I think you will love it. Thank you!

I don't own the Harry Potter verse. Just playing.

Thank you for all your kind reviews.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Sadly, the Magic of the Night was not strong enough yet to overcome the fact that this is, unfortunately, a Harry Potter story, and he still has a dark lord who wants him dead and a headmaster who seems only too happy to help, for the Greater Good, of course.

But Harry has a secret power that no one understands, the love of his soulmate, Hermione.

And they have friends!

And that changes everything!

And the Magic of the Night would never give up!

Never surrender!

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Previously.

…..The effect of the beautiful music lifted the doom and gloom of the castle and brightened the hallways. So every broom closet was occupied and the goodwill generated crossed the all powerful house boundaries and broke down the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin as Draco learnt to keep his big mouth shut, while moRonald kept losing his.

That allowed truth and justice to blossom into peace and love.

Then with all that love, the ancient magical castle awoke and took control of the playlist.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Sadly, the devious schemes of the helpful headmaster and all his plans for his secret weapon, The-Boy-Who-Lived, couldn't exist in an environment of peace and love. He needed a Great Evil to balance his Greater Good!

Otherwise his Greater Good might not seem to be that good after all!

And that necessary Great Evil fed off the hatred between Gryffindor and Slytherin!

The beautiful music that lifted the doom and gloom and filled of the castle with peace and love made the already frustrated headmaster very angry and his first thought was to get rid of the sea shells as the glorious music was breaking down the house rivalry that he needed to divide and rule the school and the Magical World. But he couldn't just get rid of the sea shells while they had his own famous quote written on them. So he tried to hex the sea shells to play angry punk or gangster rap music or even death metal music backwards. But nothing he did worked as the castle herself wouldn't let him break the charms and ancient runes on the sea shells.

The growing bountiful emotions of the students' love and joy had awoken the ancient castle and given her the strength to protect the music and the Professors had incorporated the special ancient power absorbing runes of four four time, so all the magic the headmaster used was fed back into the ancient runes of roll and rock to make the beat stronger and amplified the music into a wall of sound.

So, much to the disappointment of the headmaster, the sentient magical castle took over the play list to become her own DJ and decided witch glorious music to play and when to play it. Starting with uplifting waltzes like _Blue Danube_ in the morning to start the day on a good note and grand symphonies like the _William Tell_ for those who are running late and didn't want to miss breakfast, lunch or dinner. She added marches and waltzes during the day to keep the rhyme flowing and quiet reflective pieces at the close of the day to encourage the students to get their beauty sleep with a slow quiet rendition of _Can You Feel the Love Tonight_ that went out to all those star-crossed warriors.

From the music collections that generations of Hogwarts students and staff had brought to the castle, she had discovered an amusing theme to play whenever a certain redhead entered the hallways called _Baby Elephant Walk_ , by the master musical wizard called Henry Mancini, and another interesting theme called _Peter Gunn_ for a certain Potions Master, while the manipulative headmaster got _Entry Of The Gladiators_ as well as another moving piece for tense moments called _The good, the bad and the ugly,_ to play whenever the headmaster and Ministry tried to interfere with her favourite good wizard in a Mexican standoff. Professor Kitty got the _Pink Panther Theme_ while the students loved _Lara's theme,_ _the Great Escape,_ _Do Wah Diddy,_ _If I had words,_ _and_ _especially_ _the big one,_ _Bohemian Rhapsody_. (Can you suggest any more theme music for _DJ Castle_ to play for your favourite wizard or witch?)

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Meanwhile as our heroes returned from their holiday, Neville felt that Luna was becoming a little distant as the carriages approached the castle. They had had a great trip on the Hogwarts Express with Harry, Hermione and Luna's Fairy Godsisters with a very clumsy and funny Russian transfer student. But he could feel Luna growing sad and that she was not looking forward to returning to second half of her third year and she was dreading the Ravenclaw dorm. He wished he could do something to bring back that smile.

They were met at the entrance by Professors McGonagall and Flitwick before the headmaster could trap and detain Harry, and shown into a side room while the headmaster was left wandering around outside the castle waiting for his boy. The fearsome deputy Headmistress looked down on the young witch.

"Miss Lovegood, at the last staff meeting it was decided to advance you to fourth year and as there is no room in the Ravenclaw fourth year girls' dorm, you have been transferred from Ravenclaw to Gryffindor." The no nonsense Professor informed her as Professor Flitwick waved his wand and the trim on her robes change colour. "Miss Granger may be able to assist you with the fourth year textbooks. Do you have any problems with that?"

She was answered by the brilliant smile on the little witch's face and Neville was left wondering if it had been Harry or the three Fairy Godsisters who had granted his wish.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Luna was not the only one slowly dreading the return to the castle. Harry and Hermione hadn't seen or heard of the third member of the Golden Trio since his meltdown and catastrophic explosion at the Yule Ball. Hermione took the advancement of her friend Luna as a good sign that things might be better, but they soon discovered at the Returning Feast in the Great Hall that Ronald Bilius was not happy with his former friends who had abandoned him at the Yule Ball and he treated them as if they didn't exist as he totally and loudly ignored them. The situation was far worse than what happened on Halloween when Harry's name came out of the Goblet of Fire and Ronald went out of his way to make sure his former friends knew that he hated their guts and he interfered with anyone who tried to be friendly with the couple. The only saving grace was that the moRonald was in detention with Professor Snape every night for so long to the point that he seemed to be no longer relevant to Harry and Hermione, as he was only present briefly for classes, meals and to sleep.

Surprisingly it was Luna who cheered up Harry and Hermione and told them that they were too close to the problem. If they took a step back they could see that Ronald had been infected with a very bad case of Nargles, Wrackspurts and Umgubular Slashkilters and that is why he was behaving like a Heliopath and destroying everything around them.

Harry looked at Hermione for a translation. She had gotten very good at understanding the imaginative little witch over the holidays.

"Luna said that the extreme jealousy of Ronald Bilius has eaten him up so that he wants to punish us by denying his company and the same time he wants to stop anyone else from taking his place." Hermione explained as Luna smiled in agreement. "Oh, and an Umgubular Slashkilter is Luna's secret code name for Ronald. It is based on his table manners."

Harry turned to Luna. "Oh. That explains a lot."

"I said wizards don't do logic." Hermione added.

"And it helps to understand Dumbledore and why he wants to control me by sending me back to Durzkaban." Harry concluded.

Luna chuckled. "Durzkaban? You mean there is a place worse than Azkaban?"

"Yes!"

Harry and Hermione said together as Neville quietly listened to the discussion. He had been on the receiving end of Ronald's bad behaviour since first year and wondered if Ronald had been keeping Harry isolated for Dumbledore. His Gran didn't like the headmaster and always referred to him as the manipulative old fool as he was always interfering where he was not wanted.

Sadly Harry and Hermione had to accept the loss of their former friend but without his presence and natural obnoxiousness, they found that a lot of other students wanted to be their friends and the musical mood of the castle made for a more positive learning environment that Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna excelled at.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Professor Severus Snape opened the door with a bang as he stormed into his fourth year Gryffindor - Slytherin Potions class and cheerfully banished the red dunderhead to sit at the back of the room next to Miss Brown. Weasley had, of course, protested loudly how unfair it was that he was no longer allowed to sit with his best mate, Harry. Even though it seemed that there had been a falling-out and the red dunderhead was not actually currently sitting with the git. But by making him sit with Miss Brown at the back had the effect to completely silence him when he noticed her assets. Weasley was so distracted that he didn't notice that Miss Lovegood was in the class. After the red dunderhead was settled, the rest of the seating changes went smoothly and he was able to keep an eye on Harry and Longbottom and he noticed that Miss Romanov was doing the same while watching him carefully.

Severus stood at the front of his rearranged Potions class. "Instructions are on the..."

Severus stopped.

He was surprised to see the happy bright smiling emerald green eyes of Lily looking at him.

It was a sight that he hadn't seen for many years and it stopped him cold.

Without his trademark Boy-Who-Lived glasses, Harry looked so much like his mother, and those gorgeous emerald green smiling eyes had caused Severus to pause and reconsider his teaching style. He realised that the eyes were not smiling at him. That was the result of the witch sitting next to the boy.

But Severus remembered the last time those gorgeous emerald green eyes did smile at him. It was their fifth year potions study group and Lily had discovered that one of the senior Slytherins had tried to use Amortentia on one of her friends. After painfully dealing with the foolish boy, Lily now wanted to improve the antidote to Amortentia and for two months Lily and he worked night and day to perfect the old recipe for the Universal Antidote Potion. It had been the happiest two months of his miserable life.

And then that jealous swine and known arrogant bullying toerag, James Potter, happened and his world was turned upside down as it all went to hell when he used that terrible word. And now he needed Lily to forgive him for how badly he had treated her son, so he had better change fast.

"Well, as you dunderheads have consistently failed to follow simple instructions. We shall be making this Universal Antidote potion, together!" Severus said slowly and deliberately while hiding a smirk as he had to keep up appearances and he couldn't change that much. Little steps.

Severus went on to explain the potion and the ingredients, and then demonstrated the best method of preparing and brewing as he highlighted any critical points to watch for. Then he paused and scrutinised their attempts to perform each step exactly as he had demonstrated.

Hermione was taking notes as she and Harry worked together, and as she had memorised the textbook, she noticed that Professor Snape had made an alternative step. The textbook had said to cut up the pink sopophorous beans to release the juice while the professor had crushed it with flat side of his silver dagger. She looked at Harry who was looking at her. They had read the diary of Harry's mother and in her marked up textbooks and she had noted that crushing the beans was a better alternative method. Sirius had told them how Lily had been in a Potions study group with Severus Snape.

Harry and Hermione noticed the classroom had gotten very quiet and Neville had poked Harry's ribs. They turned back to the front to see Professor Snape looking directly at them.

Professor Snape hid a smile as he spoke slowly and deliberately. "Miss Granger has noticed that I have made a change to the instructions found in your textbooks. The textbook says to cut up the pink sopophorous beans to release the juice while I used my silver knife and crushed it. Why?"

Hermione was too surprised by the professor's comment to respond but Harry put his hand up. It was the first time he had ever done so in Potions.

"Potter?"

"Em, crushing the pink sopophorous beans with flat side of the silver knife will release the juice better than cutting?" Harry answered cautiously.

A surprised Professor Snape replied slowly. "Correct, Mr Potter."

He realised that Harry could have only known that answer if he had read his mother's textbooks. And if he had read his mother's textbooks then teaching him potions had just got a lot easier.

"Take ten points for Gryffindor. Each!" He added with a smirk.

There were gasps in the silent classroom while a certain redhead grumbled jealously. Harry Potter had just received ten points from Professor Snape. They all wondered if hell had just frozen over. Then they realised that Hermione Granger had also received ten points without even answering a question.

The Professor continued. "The most important lesson you will learn in this Potions Classroom is to understand what you are doing at all times and do not waste any ingredients."

Professor Snape waited for the students to make a note in their textbooks and then crush their beans and add the juice to their potions. Their trust and respect for the Professor grew as the extra juice turned potion to the exact the shade of lilac described by the textbook.

Later Professor Snape explained the difficult and exacting art of stirring and the difference of stirring clockwise and counterclockwise, and knowing when to add a change or extra turn.

For the surprised students, it was the best potions lesson they ever had as the Potions Master showed them his passion for the subtle science and exact art of potionmaking.

The first potion he had them make was the improved powerful universal antidote potion to be used in the treatment of victims of mind bewitching potions and poisons, insect, spider, snake and animal bites and venom. The second one was a flushing potion to clear the body of poisons. These two potions were tested on the red dunderhead. After he complained too much the third potion was tested on Harry which was the Pepperup potion with added nutrients, vitamins and minerals to treat malnourishment. Though he didn't mention the last bit. He even showed them the twelve uses of Gillyweed and how to prepare the plant to enhance its magical properties to last two hours instead of one, and so it didn't taste so slimy. In the end Severus hope he could do enough to earn Lily's forgiveness.

Severus Snape was astounded at the change in his fourth year Gryffindor - Slytherin Potions class. With Lovegood as his Potions partner, Longbottom's potions ability was unlocked and he had not melted a single cauldron or blown up anything which helped to calm Severus' nerves. Even the red dunderhead, Weasley, tried hard to stay in Miss Brown's good books and stopped slacking off; showing that he always had a brain but for some reason didn't used it.

Severus decided to implement the changes to all his classes.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

The other Professors soon noticed that Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff stopped losing house points during their Potions classes and noticed the improved grades and behaviour the changes had made. They decided to implement the same seating plan for their classes with the fourth year Gryffindor – Slytherins, and enjoyed similar improvement.

When the ornery headmaster finally discovered the new seating plan he was very disappointed and demanded that they allow the students to be free to choose their own seats. Sadly the Professors submitted to the will of the crotchety headmaster and told the students that they were free to choose where they sat. But the Professors were pleasantly surprised when the students freely chose the same seats they had with the seating plan. Even Weasley was too besotted with Miss Brown to even consider sitting anywhere else.

Everyone was thankful that the cantankerous old headmaster didn't notice that Miss Lovegood was now in the fourth year Gryffindor dorm and classes.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

The first time the castle played Bohemian Rhapsody, it was during lunch on the first lazy Saturday afternoon. The students in the Great Hall quieten down as the Muggle-borns, Harry, Luna, and all the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang looked at each other as they recognised the music. Most of the British Pure-blood students didn't have a clue what was about to happen.

It was Ginny's boyfriend from Durmstrang who bravely stood up to start singing the first solo while his fellow Durmstrang students accompanied him as the Beauxbatons joined in to sing the other solos and choruses. Then the Great Hall erupted with head banging, air guitars and air drums. Ginny loved it as her boyfriend sang to her and she couldn't wait to learn the song and actions so she could join in the fun.

Harry and Hermione watched their little friend as she rocked on with the best of them with her air guitar and drums. She smiled at them. "Mummy took dad to something called The Game Tour and he fell in love with the song. He would sing it to me to cheer me up."

Hermione marvelled at Luna. "Your parents saw Freddy Mercury perform live? The Game Tour was a concert tour by the British rock band Queen in 1980."

"Yes." Luna replied as she turned to Harry and Neville. "Your parents took us there to celebrate our births."

"So did mine." Hermione said as Harry and Neville just said. "Wow."

"I don't remember that much but my parents had a great time. So mummy took us to see Live Aid." Luna continued.

Hermione raised her eyebrows as she marvelled at Luna. "You saw Freddy Mercury perform live at Live Aid?"

"Yes, it was amazing to watch him work his magic that night." Luna replied as if it was no big deal.

"That was the greatest moment in Rock history and you were there?" Hermione marvelled as Luna smiled while Harry and Neville just said. "Wow."

The castle introduced many songs on that lazy crazy fun filled Saturday afternoon.

The headmaster couldn't get the lyrics of _Can you feel the love tonight_ , out of his head and that drove him mad as the castle slowly play the song to signal curfew and settle the students, while the headmaster was in the middle of his skulduggery session as he planned and schemed for his Greater Good.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

In the due course of time, the Demented Blibbering Humdinger, (Luna's secret code name for the manipulative scheming headmaster), had attempted to summons Harry and Hermione to his office either together or separately but each time they were accompanied by Professor McGonagall who insisted that she be present. So he had to resort to skulduggery and arranged for Minerva to attend a meeting away from the castle with the Wizarding Examinations Authority. Even then he had to personally kidnap Harry from his History of Magic class as Binns wouldn't complain. He was surprised and was more than a little disappointed that Miss Granger insist that she came with Harry while Mr Longbottom and his girlfriend left the class to contact Professor McGonagall and a Russian speaking student he did not recognise went to contacted someone else. He would never have thought Mr Longbottom would ignore his direct specific instruction to stay in class.

Finally, the manipulative headmaster had both of his wayward students alone in his office but he had to work quickly. He had Harry and Hermione sit in front of his desk as he carefully tried to aim his famous Elder Wand at them without them noticing as he distracted them by expressing his disappointment that Harry didn't visit his relatives over the holidays.

Harry and Hermione avoided the headmaster's eyes and didn't answer his open questions as Harry wondered how the headmaster knew he didn't go near Durzkaban and could feel that the he was disappointed in him. That was compounded by having Hermione present with him but he had just enjoyed the best two week holiday of his short life and he didn't understand why the headmaster was so upset with him now when he was not upset when his name came out of the Goblet of Fire and had done absolutely nothing helpful.

Harry perceived something was wrong with the situation and yet he seemed strangely familiar with the headmaster's actions. The sense of Déjà vu was overwhelming as he stood up in front of Hermione and he raised his hand to try and stop whatever the headmaster was about to do with his wand.

And as Harry thought about the headmaster's famous wand, he could feel that the wand was calling to him and he reached out for it. He watched as in slow motion the headmaster's wand tried to escape the old wizard's hand and pulled the old man out of his chair but his legs were caught on the other side of the heavy desk and that broke his hips while the forward motion of the escaping wand caused his chest to slam into the desk breaking his ribs as his head to smacked into his large heavy brass name plate, knocking him out and breaking his nose.

The struggling wand finally escaped the unconscious old wizard and flew into Harry's hand and as his fingers wrapped around it, bright colourful stars burst out of the wand. A far more brilliant show of acceptance magic than his old Holy wand had given.

"Well done! My great-grandson!" An old black haired wizard in a headmaster's portrait said to the two silent shocked students.

They turned to the portrait and Hermione read the name plate which said; Phineas Nigellus Black with the years he had been headmaster.

"What just happened here?" Harry asked the portrait. "And who are you?"

"Well, I am Lord Phineas Nigellus Black, former headmaster of Hogwarts and late Head of The Noble and Most Ancient House of BLACK, your grandmother Dorea, was my granddaughter."

"Oh? My grandmother's name was Dorea?"

"Yes, Dorea Black, she married your grandfather Charlus Potter. You really don't know much about your heritage?"

"The headmaster said my relatives were my only family." Harry said sadly. "I didn't know I had any other family on my father's side and no one has said anything about them."

"Damn that fool. He has really kept you in the dark!" The portrait snorted. "You're a Black by blood, and that makes you related to everyone. Longbottoms, Malfoys, Crouch, Rosier even that idiot Weasley."

"But the headmaster.." Harry tried to say as Hermione wondered how close the Weasleys were related to Harry as Ronald had made known that Ginny had plans for the Boy-Who-Lived.

"The headmaster didn't tell you what he didn't want you to know." The portrait said as the other headmaster portraits tried to stop him. He turned to look at them. "Silence! I am loyal to family first as you are too! Then Hogwarts and then this headmaster. And you know what he has done to your families!"

The portrait turned back to the students. "What happened here was that the old fool attempted to modify your memories again but you were able to call the Elder Wand as is your right by your heritage."

"Oh? Again?"

"Yes! Now please don't be a fool like your father and give that wand back to that manipulative old man."

"What?"

"After that colourful display of magic, the Elder Wand has chosen you to be its new master, and our esteemed headmaster had your parents here like you and tried to modify your father's memories about his decision to marry your non-Pure-Blood mother. Your father, like you, called the wand to protect your mother, but then the fool gave it back and you know how that worked out."

"Oh?"

"The headmaster didn't want Harry's father to marry his non-Pure-Blood mother?" Hermione asked. "I thought the headmaster supported Muggle-born and Muggles."

"The headmaster will say and do whatever he needs to say and do to get what he wants." The Black portrait said. "He didn't want Harry's father to marry anyone as he wanted the Potter Family to end with James Potter."

"Oh?"

"Yes, dear sweet Dorea had to use some ancient Black Family magic to remove a dark curse that had been mysteriously placed on her that had prevented her from having children."

"Oh?"

"The headmaster was most upset when little James came along."

"Oh?"

"What do we do now?" Hermione asked.

"How good are you at transfiguration and charms?"

"Hermione is brilliant." Harry said quickly.

"You are too, Harry." Hermione smiled. "Have a bit of confidence."

"Well, Harry, could you take my old wand from that display case over there." The portrait pointed. "It is the black one that looks like the Elder Wand as it is also made of Elder wood and has a Thestrals hair core."

Harry quickly found the wand and was surprised how similar it was to the headmaster's former wand only a little shorter. He showed it to the portrait.

"Good, now used the Elder Wand to transfigure that to make it identical."

"Wait!" Fergus, the Sorting Hat shouted. He also was disappointed in the current headmaster.

"What now, Fergus?" The Black portrait protested.

"You need to free Fawkes, Mr Potter." Fergus continued. "The headmaster added some ancient runes to the handle he placed on the Elder Wand that binds Fawkes and the wand to himself."

Harry and Hermione examined the handle of the Elder Wand to see that it had been added to the wand and discerned the tiny runes carved into the wood. Hermione noticed that Fawkes was watching them and she was sure the Phoenix was smiling encouragingly.

"The headmaster had to add that handle after he lost the wand's allegiance to James Potter, and to prevent it from leaving him and going to your father. As true Master of the Elder Wand by blood, heritage and conquest, you don't need that handle."

"Oh?" Harry said as he twisted the handle and it separated from the Elder Wand with a puff of smoke and sparks. He placed the handle on Dumbledore's desk next to Phineas' old wand.

"Very good, Mr Potter!" Fergus said. "Now you know what the Elder Wand originally looked like."

"Thank you, Fergus. Now transfigure my old wand to look like that, Harry, and that handle will fit it."

"Focus on the Elder Wand, Harry, and then imagine the other wand changing to match." Hermione encouraged as Harry focused and then waved the Elder Wand over the other wand as it stretched and was transfigured into an exact copy.

"Very good, Harry." The portrait said. "Now slip the handle on it and snap the copy. Place it in…."

"What? You want me to destroy your old wand?" Harry questioned.

"Yes, that was one of my wands and it has done some pretty dark things but more importantly the ancient runes clusters on it need to be destroyed. They are too dark and dangerous." The portrait explained. "I was going to destroy it before I died but Dumbledore stole it from me as he thought it was the Elder Wand."

"Oh?" Harry said as he snapped the lookalike wand in half and there were sparks and a little puff smoke.

"Good, now place it in the old fool's hand and lay the hand and wand under his chest." The Black portrait instructed.

Hermione helped Harry roll the unconscious headmaster over onto his shoulder high enough to allow his right wand hand to be repositioned under him with the broken wand.

"Good, now burn it."

"What?"

"Burn the broken wand!"

"Incendio, Harry." Hermione added encouragingly as she held the unconscious headmaster on his side.

"Incendio!" Harry said as he pointed the Elder wand barely an inch away from the tip of the broken wand in the headmaster's hand. It ignited and burnt quickly like a gunpowder fuse.

"Oops!"

A surprised Hermione said as she accidentally let the headmaster roll back over the burning broken wand. They could hear the burning wand and could smell the burnt clothes and flesh as Fawkes gave a joyful cry of Freedom as he flew around the office before he flashed away in a ball of orange flames.

"That's fine Miss Granger, the wand has stopped burning. It was pretty intense for a moment." The portrait said. "Now the old fool will believe that he fell and broke his precious Elder Wand and lost his enslaved Phoenix."

"Oh?" Hermione said.

"Well done, Mr Potter and Miss Granger! You too, Phineas!" Fergus added. "You still are the consummate Slytherin."

"Thank you, Fergus." Phineas said with a satisfied smirk.

"Where has Fawkes gone?" Harry asked.

"Probably gone to see his family. The headmaster wouldn't let him go too far away from him." Fergus explained. "Don't worry Fawkes will be back to help you. He is loyal to Hogwarts!"

"Oh?"

"Now hide the true Elder Wand in your father's cloak and avoid the headmaster's eyes." The portrait said. "I understand that you speak Parseltongue?"

Harry nodded.

"Good, I may have another job for you, I shall be in touch. Now go, don't tell anyone. We will clean up this mess." The portrait instructed.

Hermione took Harry's hand and gave the office a quick look around to make sure they didn't leave anything behind as they left. They soon caught up with Anastasia, Neville and Luna who explained that they couldn't find Professor McGonagall in the castle and Madam Bones was not available. But Professor McGonagall was absolutely furious when she found out that the headmaster had seen Harry and Hermione unsupervised, and visited the headmaster that night to express her disappointment.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

When the door to the headmaster's office closed as Harry and Hermione left, the hat called out. "Brucey!"

A young elf dressed in outlandish colourful robes popped in.

"Brucey, the headmaster as slipped and hit his head. Please take him to the Hospital ward."

Brucey took the headmaster's hand and popped away. He returned a moment later to clean up and vanish away the burnt clothes, the ash of the elder wood wand and the blood on the brass name plate. So it looked like nothing had happened there until you noticed the burn mark in the shape of the broken Elder Wand in the polished oak wood of the headmaster's desk.

The headmaster woke up in the hospital ward next morning and felt the pain in his hand and on his chest while he knew his backside had been shredded again. He quickly got out of the bed and removed the bandages on his hand and saw the burn scar in the shape of the handle of his Elder wand. Horrified, he quickly removed the bandages from his chest and looked in the mirror to see a red burn scar in the shape of a broken Elder Wand on his chest.

" _ **NOOOO!"**_

Echoed loudly around the castle, rattling the windows, shaking the floors and walls, and startling the students, staff, elves and the owls in the owlery. Where a certain snowy white owl smiled. The mournful cry continued to echo around the Forbidden Forest where the Centaurs took it for a dark bad omen.

Dumbledore screamed as his eyes rolled up as he fainted and hit his head on the mirror breaking it and earning himself seven years of very bad luck starting with another week in the care of the Madam of Pain. But he was utterly devastated at the loss of a Deathly Hallow.

All his plans depended on finally uniting the three Deathly Hallows and becoming the Master of Death.

But in time, the insanity of the old headmaster would soon convince him that the all powerful Elder Wand could never have been simply destroyed by him accidentally falling on it. So that meant that the powerful wand he had stolen from Gellert was not the actual Elder Wand of the Deathly Hallows. He wonder if he could force the boy to go on an odyssey to seek the true Elder Wand and give it to him as he was getting too old for such quests and frivolities. Besides, he had already prepared a list of dangerous magical artefacts for the boy to find that will waste a lot of time once Tom had returned. Of course, he wouldn't give the boy the list. No point making it easy for him, he would just give him some indecipherable cryptic clues and illogical hints from his research into Tom's life and warn him that they are essential that they be found and destroyed before Tom could be killed. And then when he had finished finding them all, he would lay the big one on him. The boy has to die first.

The desolate and desperately scheming headmaster waited out his confinement as he tried to remember what had happened but the blow to the head had removed the previous memories for the last week and he didn't want to show any weakness so he wouldn't ask anyone. His staff had come to commiserate with him on the loss of his famous wand. Without the power of the Elder Wand he decided to go to plan B in his attempt to control his weapon and instructed his Potions Master to brew up a powerful undetectable bewitching potion for him to use.

Unfortunately the Potions Master made a little mistake and brewed up an antidote and flushing potion instead.

The headmaster was not happy.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Two days after the incident in the headmaster's office, a decrepit looking old house-elf popped in to see Harry who was with Hermione in the library after classes had finished for the day.

"Lord Phineas Black has sent Kreacher to Harry Potter for help." Kreacher said quietly with a bow as his hand held a large gold locket that Harry could feel the evil vibe coming off and knew that it was another one of those things like the diary. "Lord Black said you could help Kreacher destroy this. Lord Black said it has to be opened by someone who can speak to snakes before Kreacher can destroy it for brave master Regulus."

Harry looked at Hermione and had a silent conversation to decide what to do.

"Come with us." Harry said to the elf as Hermione checked the Marauder's Map before they left the library and they went down to the Chamber of Secrets.

Harry found the same broken fang he had used to destroy the diary and gave it to Kreacher as he placed the gold locket on the stone floor.

"When I open this cursed thing, do not hesitate! You must immediately stab both halves of the locket. You do not want what is in there getting out, or worse, sucking you inside." Harry instructed as he remembered that Tom-mort came out of the diary and he had sucked Harry into the diary to show him the memory of Tom framing a young Hagrid.

Kreacher carefully took hold the broken fang that still dripped the deadly Basilisk venom, and with grim determination nodded his head as Harry focused on the serpent 'S' on the locket.

"SSSSOpenSSSS"

The locket burst open as a black mist came out but Kreacher was very quick and stabbed the red eye that appeared in both halves. The black mist screamed as it burst into small flames just like Tom-mort did almost two years ago.

"Well done, Kreacher!"

"Thank you. Kreacher has heard of your greatness and now Kreacher has see that it is true, as never before has a wizard helped a lowly house-elf, and the Great Harry Potter has helped Kreacher complete the last task given to Kreacher by the brave young master Regulus and fulfilled the orders of Lord Black." The old elf said with tears in his eyes as Harry placed a comforting arm around him while Hermione carefully placed the broken fang in a dragon hide bag in case they needed to destroy any more of those evil things.

"Who is master Regulus?" Harry asked when Kreacher had calmed down.

And Kreacher told his sad tale.

When Harry realised that young master Regulus was Padfoo's little brother, he decided to send Kreacher to Padfoo so he could hear what happened to him. While Hermione realised that Lord Phineas Black had a lot of valuable information on both the headmaster and Voldemort that was very important to Harry.

Before Kreacher left, he gave Harry and Hermione the rings that Lord Black had made to protect his family from potions, spells, hexes and curses including mind bewitching curses and potions. So their secrets would be safe from the manipulative headmaster and anyone else who wanted to interfere.

Hermione looked around the chamber and she had seen the Basilisk in the memories that Harry had given Madam Bones but seeing it for real kind of freaked her out. Harry had said it was fifty feet long but she could see that there was more than fifty feet of the Basilisk on the stone floor with the rest of it hidden under the water. She didn't want to find out how big a Basilisk that had lived for one thousand years in the basement of a magical castle could be.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Sirius Black was enjoying dinner with Moony that Dobby had brought to them in their Marauder's Hogwarts Command Post, otherwise known as the Shrieking Shack, when his least favourite house-elf popped in front of him and bowed.

He was very surprised to hear!

"The Great Harry Potter has requested that Kreacher tells the unworthy son, the sad tale of brave young master Regulus." Kreacher announced and started to retell the sad tale and included the destruction of the locket with the help of the Great Harry Potter.

By the time Kreacher had finished, Sirius was a mess and crying for his little brother as he hugged the old elf who was crying too.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Someone else who was crying a lot was their former friend, Peter Pettigrew.

Unfortunately for Peter, he was crying and shaking because his lord and master was getting all these cheerful vibes from the boy and it was giving him splitting headaches and the only relief Babymort got was cursing the dirty rat into oblivion with his favourite Cruciatus Curse.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

The angry frustrated headmaster was running out of time and gave up trying to stop the music, as he had an Important International Event to manipulate to the proper conclusion for the Great Good. So he ignored the rule book and the specific instructions that he, himself, had written for the second task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament which clearly said _"We_ _'ve taken what_ _ **you'll**_ _sorely miss,"_ obviously meaning what _the champion_ would sorely miss. The headmaster wanted to ensure the boy missed the right thing and he arranged to pair Harry up with his Dumbledore approved and assigned best friend, Ronald, as his hostage for the second task while the Insufferable-Know-It-All would be sold to the Bulgarian and would have an unfortunate accident on the bottom of the Black Lake.

That would teach the boy two important things. One; that the headmaster knows best and two; sacrifices needed to be made.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Kreacher was so happy to have finally completed the last task his beloved young master Regulus had given him that he decided to help the Great Harry Potter. Kreacher had remembered when Lord Phineas Black had given the task to destroy the dark lord's anchors to his young master, that Lord Black had said anchors with an 'S' and that meant that there were more of the cursed anchors to be destroyed.

And that mean that there were more opportunities for Kreacher to avenge his beloved master Regulus.

So Kreacher spoke to Lord Phineas Black and the first thing he had Kreacher do was the make a copy of all the information and research that the headmaster had gathered which included a list of possible anchors that the dark lord may have made along with the headmaster's suspicions of who they may have been given to or where they could be hidden. He had Kreacher move his portrait in Grimmauld Place into Regulus' old room and had him post up the walls all of the information Dumbledore had gathered on the dark lord. He then had Kreacher transcribe all the information he could remember that he had gathered on the headmaster's activities, and all his grand plans, schemes and manipulations for his Greater Good and posted that on the walls so he could study it to discover what Dumbledore was really up to.

It was not a pretty sight.

Lord Black's headmaster's portrait had hung on the wall of the Hogwarts headmaster's office since his unfortunate death and he had been headmaster during the time young Albus Dumbledore attended Hogwarts as a student. During the last few years of his life he had spent a lot of time adding special features to his portrait as he was afraid what the young Albus Dumbledore would become. He had noticed his talent and brilliance but he also realised that Dumbledore was the ultimate Slytherin who was hiding in Gryffindor. So he watched the Slytherindor carefully while he was alive and even more so after he had died.

The time the portrait of Lord Phineas Black had spent watching the headmaster was well rewarded as the Slytherindor charmed and manipulated his way to the three most powerful positions in the Magical World. He knew the headmaster had not achieved that power and position in a Gryffindor way but had he used all of his Slytherin wiles and his master Legilimency skills all the time and on everyone who sat before him. So, while the headmaster might say that his guesses are often quite good but in fact Lord Black knew that they were sure and certain. Why guess when you can just take the answers someone is hiding straight from their mind. Particularly for Tom Riddle when he came to ask the headmaster for the job to teach DADA. Tom left disappointed with a splitting headache while Dumbledore gained a complete list of Horcruxes, the number, what had been used for their storage, who had them and where they were hidden.

Sadly, Lord Black knew the headmaster would keep such secrets to himself and only used them when it best served himself and his Greater Good. But fortunately the headmaster loved to talk to himself about all of his grand plans, schemes and manipulations for his Greater Good. While a consummate Slytherin like Lord Black listened carefully and took notes until he could use the information to his advantage.

Together, Lord Black and Kreacher studied Dumbledore's the current list of the Horcruxes of the Dark Lord.

Tom's Anchors

Tom Riddle's diary. - _Lucius Malfoy →_ _D H_ _P CoS 29/05/93_.

Marvolo Gaunt's Ring. - Gaunt's shack / desk

Salazar Slytherin's Locket. - Cave

Helga Hufflepuff's Cup. - Bella Lestrange

Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem. - CnG room

Harry Potter's scar→ HP → _D B_ _asilisk / Fawkes CoS 29/05/93_.

Nagini. Tom's familiar with Baby-Tom.

 _The diary_ had already been crossed of the list with the note that Lord Black interpreted as, Destroyed by Harry Potter in the Chamber of Secrets on the 29/05/93. Also crossed off the list and angrily underlined was; _t_ _he Horcrux in t_ _he scar on_ _H_ _arry_ _P_ _otter's head_ , with the note, Destroyed by the Basilisk's venom and the healing Phoenix tears of Fawkes also in the Chamber of Secrets on the 29/05/93.

While the headmaster might had been angry that the Horcrux he had left in the famous scar on the boy had been destroyed. It was a very happy and vengeful Kreacher who cheerfully crossed off the locket and added his own note, _D master Regulus / H_ _P / Kreacher CoS 26/01/95_.

That left Hufflepuff's cup, Ravenclaw's Diadem, the Gaunt family ring, and Nagini, the snake. Lord Black described what the headmaster thought the cup and diadem might look like and that the headmaster had already found the ring and had hidden in his desk.

Lord Black explained that the headmaster had been searching for the Resurrection Stone and used two of the Deathly Hallows, the wand and cloak, to summon the missing third. That was why he had insisted that James Potter allow him to borrow the Cloak of Invisibility when he had them trapped in the old Dumbledore home in Godric's Hollow. But when he performed the ritual and summoned the stone, he had found it to be contaminated with the Horcrux of a certain dark lord and protected by a very dark curse. As the headmaster didn't have anything to destroy the Horcrux, he hid the ring and Resurrection Stone in his desk. No point putting it back as he was not sure exactly where it had been hidden and he didn't want the Boy to touch such an important Deathly Hallow. The headmaster had said in his ramblings.

The next anchor Kreacher searched for was the little gold cup given to Miss Bella. Kreacher searched all the properties and vaults of the Black Family and soon found a little gold cup in Miss Bella's vault. It was giving off the same dark vibe as the locket and was easy for Kreacher to recognise after having the locket for so many years. He carefully took it to the Great Harry Potter to be destroyed.

Then Kreacher went to find the Ravenclaw Diadem in the Come and Go room, and the ring in the headmaster's desk and took them to be processed by the Great Harry Potter. It didn't matter what had been done to protect them as the deadly powerful Basilisk venom destroyed the Horcruxes. Unfortunately, the Basilisk venom didn't destroy the very dark curse on the ring but actually made it stronger, more painful and quicker acting. So Kreacher returned the cursed ring to where the headmaster had hidden it for safekeeping.

That left just left, Nagini, and Lord Black decided to make plans as it would take more than Kreacher to destroy the snake and he did want to alert Babymort or Dumbledore for that matter, that someone else had discovered the most important secret in the Magical World.

After that success, Kreacher happily set to clean up the empty Black Properties with the help of Dobby and Winky.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

 _Thank you for reading._


	8. The Second Task

Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again.

Chapter 8. The Second Task.

I don't own the Harry Potter verse. Just playing.

08/10/18 Beta by alix33. Thank you.

Thank you for all your kind reviews.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Encouragingly, the Magic of the Night was growing stronger but would it be enough to overcome the fact that this is still a Harry Potter story, and he still has a dark lord who wants him dead and a headmaster who seems only too happy to use our hero for bait and to help in anyway he can, for the Greater Good, of course.

Plus there is that little thing the Ministry of Magic had cooked up at the headmaster's behest, called the Tri-Wizard Tournament, that Harry has to participate in, due to a dubious binding magical contract and the explicit wishes of the aforementioned fearful manipulative headmaster or our hero might just lose his magic.

But like Harry and Hermione, the Magic of the Night would never give up!

Never surrender!

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Harry and Hermione were surprised how much the school had changed since the Yule Ball. All the badges and hostile vibes were long gone and replaced with Balls and fun as the castle came alive with glorious music that filled the hallways with good will and broke down the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Even professor Snape had changed completely and was actually teaching and awarding points to all houses, and even trying to be helpful as he had instituted the seating plan that allowed Hermione to sit with Harry and moved their other former friend to the back where he was distracted by the charms of Lavender Brown. While no one would believe that the professor had advanced Luna Lovegood but Neville was very happy he did and so was Luna. The simple changes had removed the distractions and constant arguments, and everyone was benefiting from the positive learning environment. Even Ronald was trying to impress Lavender Brown with something other than his expeditious table manners and ebullient personality.

Hermione loved it when Winky and Dobby brought her parents to the Hogsmeade weekend and they wore the new robes that Sirius had brought them so they didn't stand out as Muggles. But that didn't prevent Hermione's mother from embarrassing her as she wanted to see and taste and do everything like a five year old hyped up on sugar at a magical theme park except that it was all real. Even Brunhilde's Best Garden Fertiliser came from real live fire breathing Dragons. They had lunch at the Three Broomsticks after touring the village as Emma looked at everything and asked so many questions faster than Hermione could answer. As Hermione was dragged off by her overeager mother, that left Harry and Dan alone and they had a great time quietly touring the village as Dan asked Harry questions about the things they found. Harry realised how well his future in laws loved each other and balanced their strengths and weakens to make a great team. Harry then understood what a true loving family was like and he wanted to be a part of this one.

It was getting late and Emma had even more questions for Hermione, but she was saved by Padfoo who invited Dan and Emma to dinner at the Shrieking Shack after Harry and Hermione had to returned to the castle and demonstrated why the Shrieking Shack was the most haunted building in all of Britain and almost scared the proverbial out of them until Emma started asking questions. Sirius had never seen Peeves the poltergeist turn tail and run away from anyone before.

Particularly screaming. "AAARRRRUUUGH! There's two of them!"

Of course, Emma would get her revenge on Sirius, and Winky and Dobby were only too happy to help.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

While the subjects and class courses hadn't changed that much, Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, and Moody had, oddly enough for certain fourth and sixth year classes, had added charms and hexes to their lessons which could be used under water like the Bubble Head and an underwater version of the Lumos charms as well as warming and drying charms, plus defensive and cutting hexes. They even had Harry and Hermione demonstrate the charms and hexes under water in a small swimming pool they had conjured up in the classroom. While Professor Sprout added lessons about dangerous plants that could be found in the Black Lake, and Hagrid added lessons on the Merpeople and creatures that lived there.

Cedric invited Fleur and Viktor to his sixth year classes to get first hand local knowledge of the environment of the Black Lake, and they invited Harry and Hermione to their un-Official Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions' study group.

Harry and Hermione heeded Cedric's suggestion and spent a lovely evening together in the Prefect's Bathroom with Neville, Luna and Moaning Myrtle, where they worked out the clue for the second task. They discovered to their horror that something or worst some one, Harry would sorely miss would be taken and hidden on the bottom of the Black Lake, and Harry would only have one hour to save them.

Now Harry and Hermione understood why the Professors had added all these lessons of spells and charms that could be used under water and they appreciated the help.

But Harry also remembered what Hermione had rather hotly informed Ronald at the Yule Ball that; _"This whole tournament'_ _wa_ _s supposed to be about getting to know foreign wizards and making friends with them!"_ _And that Percy_ _had bustled over, rubbing his hands together and looking extremely pompous. "Excellent! That's the whole point, you know - international magical cooperation!" …._ _GoF._

So a month before the second task Neville, Luna, Harry and Hermione realised that Harry's best chance to survive this task was to join forces with Fleur Delacour as Luna explained that the French Veela would have a big problem with the ice cold water of the Scottish lake in winter. Icy water and Veelas didn't mix as the coldness would drain the fire of their magic. Plus Harry had never learnt to swim as the Dursleys wouldn't waste the money on him and would consider it a bonus if he drowns.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Harry and Fleur were concerned on the morning of the second task as Hermione and Fleur's little sister, Gabrielle, were missing and they were horrified that a very foolish manipulative headmaster was using them as bait. Worse still, Hermione's tracking and monitoring charms were not working and they feared that someone had removed them. Kreacher had kept Harry and Hermione up to date with the current schemes of the headmaster through their spy and fly on the wall, Lord Phineas Black. They knew he was going to try something with Hermione and Ronald as hostages, but Gabrielle's disappearance was totally unexpected as Madam Maxime had vehemently refused to endanger the little Veela while the headmaster just nodded his head with a knowing smile.

To make matters even more worse, Molly Weasley had come to the school to fill in as part of Harry's official family on the invitation of the aforementioned headmaster. Harry was very uncomfortable with the arrangement as his former redhead friend still hated his guts for abandoning him at the Yule Ball and Mrs Weasley loudly expressed her disapproval of the French Veela, whom she disparagingly called Phlegm, being anywhere near her Ginny's Harry. While Ginny had made herself scarce and kept out of her mother's sight with her cute Durmstrang wizard. Oddly it was Luna and her magical creatures that distracted the redhead harridan long enough and gave Professor McGonagall an opportunity to escort Mrs Weasley to her office to discuss her youngest son's bad behaviour towards Harry and Hermione, and her own poor example.

Harry was terribly embarrassed by the poor behaviour of Mrs Weasley but Fleur, Neville, Luna and himself were able to avoid her and the headmaster for the rest of the morning as they went over their plans for the second task while Dobby and Winky searched the castle for Hermione and Gabrielle. Their concern grew after a visit from Moaning Myrtle who confirmed their worst fears that the missing two were together at the bottom of the Black Lake and she looked Harry in the eye and said one word.

"Hurry!"

That meant that Harry and Fleur didn't have any time to waste and would go with plan FBBS; the Flying Broom Bubble Submarine.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

At precisely 9:30 am on the morning of the Twenty-fourth of February, the cannon fired to signal the start of the Second Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. The four champions gathered around to wish each other good luck and then they took out their wands to cast their point-me charms to locate their hostage. Unfortunately their wands stayed limp in their hands as the charm failed.

Cedric glanced at the officials and noticed the look of concern that Professors Sprout, McGonagall and Flitwick had, and the smirk on the headmaster's face who was staring at the back of Harry's head in a way that creeped Cedric out.

"Damn." Harry cursed under his breath as his point-me charm failed while Fleur expressed her disappointment in French and he didn't want to know what Viktor had said in his mother's tongue.

Fleur looked at Harry and whispered. "Hide me from that damn headmaster. I know an ancient powerful Veela enhanced point-me charm that will locate family."

Cedric and Viktor heard the whisper and had seen the concern and fear in the eyes of Harry and Fleur and they also had their doubts about the headmaster's actions and the safety of their hostages. They moved to either side of Harry to shield and hide Fleur as she made a partial transformation into Veela mode and cast the ancient point-me charm.

"There!" Fleur whispered as she transformed back and pointed to the darkest patch of black water of the center of the Black Lake.

Cedric nodded to Fleur as he cast a bubble head charm over his head and dived in, while Viktor gave her a look of thanks as he transfigured his upper body into the head of a shark and followed Cedric into the dark cold water, as Harry summonsed his Firebolt broom.

The Firebolt flew over to them from the castle but it was trailing some clothes that were snagged around the foot rests. A ripped bed sheet and some soiled underwear with a big red letter 'R' stitched on the front. Harry cursed under his breath. While Neville, Luna and he were worried about the second task and the missing Hermione, the idiot Ronald, must have gone through his trunk, looking for food and had borrowed his Firebolt, so he could sleep with it. The broom seemed to sense Harry's discomfort and shook itself to dislodge the offending bits into the lake. He hoped no one had noticed.

A certain platinum blond hair idiot tried very hard but couldn't help himself as his witty words of wisdom would dump both of his long-standing arch-enemies in it, and his dreaded sarcastic voice loudly started to say.

"Hey Scarhead? You let that weasel to sleep with..."

But Malfoy was drowned out by an even louder, far more dreaded voice.

"RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY!" Ronald's mother roared drawing all attention to herself and then remembered that her little Ronniekins was not present. "Er Percy could you be a dear and please fetch Ronald's underwear from the lake."

Now everyone knew whose underwear was floating in the lake.

The platform for the Slytherin students had heard all of what Draco had said and roared laughing distracting everyone while Harry quickly applied cleaning and sterilising charms to the broom as Fleur applied some cushioning charms. He helped Fleur to sit on the broom and then he sat in front as she wrapped her arms around his waist. While Molly saw red, and the headmaster became concerned that two champions were working together without his knowledge or permission, and he was afraid that he might have to disqualify Harry for thinking for himself.

Harry and Fleur flew off in the direction that Fleur's wand was pointing, before the headmaster and Molly could reach them, as their path was blocked as everyone from all three schools moved to watch what was happening with the underwear in the lake and roared laughing at a very red faced Percy, the former head boy of Hogwarts, and now self-important Ministry official, pompously walked down the steps to the lowest level of the Minister's platform and tried to summon the offending underwear with the big letter 'R' from the water.

Fred and George tried to help by summoning the offending underwear across to the Gryffindor platform. They hated the way their mother would mark their clothes with a big red letter of their first initial. It was so embarrassing to have a big red letter 'F' or 'G' on the chest of their singlets, shirts, jumpers or on the front of their underpants. Especially for George as he would accidentally sometimes get some of Ginny's unmentionables. One of the first charms they learnt at Hogwarts was the shrinking charm to shrink the big red letter down to a small monogram. But obviously Ronald hadn't bothered to learn that charm.

Then the Slytherins decided to join in the fun and summonsed the offending underwear across to the Slytherin platform. Fred and George decided to let the Slytherins win for once, much to the loud screaming of Percy and Molly.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Harry and Fleur soon overtook Cedric and Viktor as they could see them swimming together in the same direction just below the surface of the Black Lake. Harry slowed the broom to a stop as Fleur's wand pointed directly down. The broom hovered two feet above the cold water as Fleur cast clearing and light charms on the depths of the Black Lake so that they could see the four hostages on the bottom.

Fleur cast the full body bubble charm over both Harry and herself, and the broom, as Harry pushed the broom to climb, and then roll over into a desperate Wronski Defensive Feint. Harry bent over to flatten himself against the broom to streamline their shape as Fleur hugged and flattened herself against him as she pushed as much magic into holding the full body bubble charm as she could. They hit the water with a small splash as Harry forced the broom to dive deep.

It was a brilliant Wronski Defensive Feint, and it only took a few moments to reach the hostages, but for Fleur it seemed a lifetime as she could feel how cold the lake water was, even through her bubble charm. She cursed Dumbledore under her breath as she saw that was no full body bubble charm around her sister and she was already blue with the cold.

Harry carefully lowered the Bubble Submarine over Hermione and Gabrielle as Fleur pulled them into the space between herself and Harry, and then he used his wand to cast a cutting hex to sever the ropes holding them to the statue.

Hermione awoke as soon as the rope anchoring her was cut and it was very fortunate that she was surrounded by the air contained in the bubble otherwise she would have drowned as she gasped for her next breath. She cheerfully inhales Harry's scent and automatically wrapped her arms around him as he forced the bubble submarine to the surface as fast as he could.

The broom broke through the surface and rose six feet above the water and Fleur cancelled her charm. Harry turned to see how his passengers were doing, and Hermione kissed him so hard he almost fell off the broom. But their kiss was interrupted by a blood curdling scream from Fleur.

Harry and Hermione turn to see that the little Veela was not breathing and her lips were blue, as Fleur looked like she was going into a panic. Even though Harry and Fleur had rescued Hermione and Gabrielle from the bottom of the Black Lake in less than three minutes, they had no idea how long the hostages had been there in the dark ice cold water since they disappeared during the night.

Harry and Hermione glanced at each other to have a quick silent conversation. He pointed the broom towards the Ministry Platform and set the autopilot to let it fly itself as Hermione looked Fleur in the eye.

"Do you trust us?"

The terrified Fleur gave Hermione a nod and she took the little Veela from Fleur. She checked that there was no water in her mouth and that her airways were clear. She felt for a pulse and found none.

Hermione looked at Harry and he nodded his head as they agreed to perform CPR on the young Veela. Harry had done CPR in his last year at Muggle school and he could never forget the foul smell of the dummy after Dudley had given it the kiss of death.

Hermione laid the little Veela across their laps as they balanced sideways on the broom as it flew across the lake.

"Two quick breaths, Harry!"

Harry took a deep breath, positioned his lips on Gabrielle's and blew gently twice and watched as Hermione pressed down on the girl's chest five times.

"Two more Harry!" Hermione encouraged as she paused then continued the pump the girl's chest as they got into a rhythm, while Fleur was trying not to go into shock and used her wand to dry and warm Gabrielle and Hermione, and recast the full body bubble charm to protect them from the cold winds as they raced towards the platform where Fleur's parents were waiting.

Harry and Hermione continued to give Gabrielle CPR and they had almost reached the Ministry platform, when Hermione saw the little Veela's lips change from blue to pink as she finally coughed back into life and opened her beautiful blue eyes to see a pair of Emerald green eyes looking back very relieved and very happy.

A joyful Fleur surrounded Harry, Hermione and Gabrielle with a bone crushing hug, as they reached the lower level of the Ministry platform where the unhappy headmaster, Molly and Ministry officials were waiting.

Unfortunately, as no one was actually flying the broom, it ploughed into the unhappy headmaster, Molly and all the officials and knocked them flying into the icy cold waters of the lake.

Harry quickly took back control of the broom and pushed it to circle back and climb up to the second level of the Ministry Platform where Fleur's family and Madam Maxime were waiting. Fleur's mother quickly took Gabrielle into her arms as she and Madam Maxime spoke in rapid fire French to thank and kiss Harry and Hermione as Fleur would not stop hugging them.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

In the background Harry and Hermione could hear the faint strains of the _The Imperial March_ , and they heard a very angry wet soggy Molly demanding to know where her poor little Ronniekins was, as she loudly climbed the stairs to the second level of the Ministry Platform. Then they heard the _March of the Gladiators_ , and Harry could just sense that Dumbledore and Karkaroff were standing just behind them when they heard that sad lamented voice say.

"I am afraid, Harry, my boy, that you have rescued the wrong hostage." Dumbledore said sadly as he shook his wet head showing how disappointed he was in his boy, as Karkaroff sneered, while in the background they heard _Ride of the Valkyries_.

Madam Maxime had been worried sick for her students, and she was angry that the manipulative old fool had ignored her specific instructions and had taken the young Veela. Little Gabrielle had almost died despite the old fools reassurances, and now the headmaster had declared it a mistake to rescue and save the little Veela's life.

Madam Maxime finally had a target for her growing rage, and she had had enough of the old fool's platitudes, so she didn't even try to talk sense into him. She drew herself up to stand her full nine feet tall, gracefully stepped around Harry and Hermione, and slapped the headmaster across his face. Spinning him around twice and into the fist of Fleur's father, breaking his nose and knocked him off the platform as he gracefully cartwheeled down into the icy cold waters of the Black Lake. Next, Karkaroff tried to open his mouth and Madam Maxime slapped it shut and knocked him back into the lake. While Fleur's mother switched to full Veela mode and started to throw fireballs at a screaming soggy Molly and the other Ministry officials, driving them back into the lake and setting the Ministry Platform on fire.

Madam Maxime instructed her professors to take the Beauxbatons students back to the carriage and then she used her wand to turned a wet towel into a Portkey. In a moment Harry, Hermione, Neville, Luna, Fleur's family and Madam Maxime were standing in the medical ward of the Beauxbatons carriage. The beautiful French healer quickly checked Gabrielle and Fleur, and found them cold and magically exhausted. They would be fine after a hot meal and a warm bed.

Then the beautiful French healer checked Harry and Hermione and they were also found to be cold and magically exhausted but had some further issues when Dobby popped in to take them home to Hermione's parents while Winky took Neville and Luna. Dobby and Winky had been slowly working through the issues that they had and were removing the bewitching potions, binding, obliviations, charms and compulsions, and didn't want to alert a certain manipulative old fool.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Ten minutes after the Ministry Platform had burnt down to the water line, Cedric and Cho bobbed to the surface. They swam over to the Hufflepuff Platform to the cheers of their housemates. While Viktor returned alone and swam to the Slytherin Platform. He had absolutely refused to rescue the MoRon-Who-Had-Made-Hermione-Cry, leaving him marooned at the bottom of the lake with some strange teeth marks and the better half of his butt missing. It was not a pretty sight.

It fell to the headmaster to go down to the bottom of the Black Lake and rescue his useless redhead minion as the arrangement he had made with the Chief of the Merpeople so that they would be able to use the Black Lake for the Second Task, was that they could keep one hostage. But he couldn't let them have the redhead as he needed to keep Molly happy. He had planned to sacrifice The-Know-It-All, she would either accept her fate and become a Mermaid or drown. While the Chief of the Merpeople wanted to keep the young Veela which the headmaster wouldn't have objected to but it would have caused a major international incident for Fudge and his Ministry.

The chief of the Merpeople wasn't a fool and he certainly didn't want the redhead but he wasn't going to let him go without a better offer. So the headmaster promised to give the chief two witches. And he had already decided on the two lucky witches who he would volunteer; The-Know-It-All and a young blonde third year Ravenclaw that he didn't think anyone would miss and besides she could search the Black Lake for all the imaginary magical creatures she could find.

When the headmaster returned to the surface with his redhead minion, he cursed as the monitoring charms he had placed on the boy and The-Know-It-All that morning informed him that they had left the building er Hogwarts. Annoyed, he said to himself that the Chief will have to wait until they returned to the school. He then promptly put it to the back of his mind and forgot about it as he had already gotten what he wanted and besides the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards had more important things to do than keeping Merpeople happy. For all he cared, the Chief could try to claim his prise the next time they went swimming in the Black Lake.

The headmaster took his minion to the Slytherin Platform for professor Snape to check him over and give him a pain potion for his the missing half of his butt. The redhead opened his eyes to see all the silver and green trim on the black robes and he saw Snape foolishly waving his wand at him. He tried to reach for his own wand, but it wasn't in his pocket. Then he saw Crabbe was wearing a pair of underpants over his Slytherin robes like those stupid Muggle super heroes he had seen in Dean's dumb Muggle comics. He opened his mouth to say something nasty at Crabbe when he noticed the big red letter 'R' on the front of the underpants, and his rage exploded.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

The Second Task had been held at 9:30 in the morning and had been completed by the four champions before 10:00 am. So that very afternoon, Madam Maxime with Gabrielle's parents and delegation of very important officials from the French Ministry of Magic and the ICW. _(That's the_ _ **I**_ _nternational_ _ **C**_ _onfederation of_ _ **W**_ _izards and not the other Scottish ICW, the_ _ **I**_ _nsane_ _ **C**_ _hampionship_ _ **W**_ _restling, a Scottish wrestling promotion based in Glasgow. But with Dumbledore_ _and Soggy Molly_ _involved_ _i_ _t_ _would be_ _h_ _ard_ _t_ _o tell the_ _difference.)_ Along with Professor McGonagall who was there to protect Harry's best interest. They all arrived to attended the Post Second Task Meeting in the headmaster's office so they could lodge an official protest. Sadly they found the start of the major international incident when Molly quietly protested (her terms) that the foolish boy (Potter) had rescued the wrong hostage. She was supported by her Icky Ronniekins who wanted to loudly complain about his former best mate who had abandoned him at the bottom of the Black Lake, while Karkaroff agreed and launched his own additional protest in support as he claimed that the boy had stolen Viktor's hostage. While Viktor was nowhere to be seen as he didn't want any part of this stupidity. Neither did Professor Snape and Dumbledore only had Soggy Molly and Ronniekins to support and back him up as he tried to calm things down by blaming everything on the boy for not following his clear instructions. Then he tried to penalise him and take away all of his points which the kitty would never let happen. Gabrielle's parents wanted to roast the old fool alive for endangering their little daughter. Madam Maxime launched her own protest against the manipulative old fool for putting a young Veela at risk and offered to give Harry and Hermione sanctuary at Beauxbatons as a reward for saving Fleur's little sister. But the headmaster and Molly would never allow the boy to leave the country. As you can read from this long single convoluted paragraph, it would be easy for you to imagine that they were all screaming at each other at the same time and from there it all went downhill and Professor McGonagall, AKA Vengeful Kitty, dealt with the fools in her own indomitable feline style.

But Harry and Hermione had already left on the Dobby Express to see Hermione's worried parents and missed all the fun until Kreacher popped in to give them Lord Black's report and an update of the situation. He very cheerfully reported that.

"The Demented Blibbering Humdinger, the Death Eater Karkaroff, the red harridan, the red harridan's Umgubular Slashkilter, an obnoxious pink toad and numerous pompous Ministry officials are all suffering from a painful shredded posterior and would be unavailable for a week."

"Oh, is that the good news?" Emma very cheekily asked after the elf's colourful descriptions as she wanted her own opportunity to express herself to the headmaster. While Harry and Hermione looked at Luna who had a beaming smile, and wonder what other secret creatures codes had Luna taught the ancient elf?

Kreacher nodded as he continued. "The French Headmistress has offered the Great Harry Potter and his Hermione sanctuary at Beauxbatons for saving the little Veela, but the Humdinger and the red harridan vehemently refused to let the Great Harry Potter to leave the country."

Dan and Emma looked at each other. "We should seriously consider that as the manipulations of the headmaster are getting worse."

Harry and Hermione nodded in agreement.

"Who is this red harridan?" Emma asked angrily.

"Mrs Molly Weasley." Harry answered. "She is the Umgubular Slashkilter, er, Ronald's mother. The headmaster brought her to school to act has my official family for the second task. I didn't know the headmaster would do that as Ronald still hates our guts."

"Oh?" Emma said. "We better start making plans for a holiday in France this summer."

"Yes, dear."

"And Luna and Neville will be included if they wish to come." Emma said as Neville and Luna smiled and nodded. They didn't want to be left behind with the Demented Blibbering Humdinger running around.

"Lord Black said that would wise and the Vengeful Kitty has banned the red harridan from the school." Kreacher continued. "Unfortunately, the Great Harry Potter's points have been reduced to half while the blonde witch is in third place with the Hufflepuff second and the Bulgarian in first place."

Hermione was annoyed at the headmaster's petty actions, but Harry said. "I don't care about the points. I never wanted to be in this mad Tournament, far less to win it. But I will do anything I can to ensure everyone can endure the manipulations of the headmaster and survive the Tri-Wizard Tournament unharmed.

Harry was also very happy that Professor McGonagall had his back while Hermione suspected that the Vengeful Kitty was having way too much fun.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

 _Thank you for reading._


	9. The not so calm before the Storm

Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again.

Chapter 9. The not so calm before the Storm of the Third Task.

12/11/18 Beta by alix33 Thank you.

I don't own the Harry Potter verse. Just playing.

Thank you for all your kind reviews.

AN: Sorry for the delay. I realised that a chapter was missing to cover the problem of how do I get Harry and Hermione back to Hogwarts before the third task after the fallout from second task and their escape to Hermione's home. Then I remembered that that issue would need to be discussed with Harry's Guiding Angels. And then I remembered Molly's love of expressing herself with a howler. What could possibly go wrong for the headmaster if those two irresistible forces were to cross paths?

Enjoy.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Slowly, the Magic of the Night fought back against the evil of the Greater Good.

There was hope that appeared when Harry and Fleur had combined their resources to survive the second task and save the lives of their love ones who had been put in danger by the manipulative devious headmaster.

Their courageous example was not lost on the other two champions, the students from all three schools, and certain Professors, and they could see an opportunity to make a difference as the winds of change were growing in strength.

But there still were those who wouldn't listen nor change their ways and had to learn a bitter lesson.

But the Magic of the Night would never give up!

Never surrender!

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

The Second Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament was on the 24th of February, 1995 and that was a Wednesday. Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna were so drained by the ordeal that they slept all of Thursday. Dan and Emma were not happy that the children had to return to the school but Harry's Guiding Angels had scheduled a meeting at the Grangers for the Friday night to discuss the issue. Dan and Emma wanted to keep the children for another week and then they would travel to the Hogsmeade Visit on Saturday the 6th of March, and spend the day there with the children returning to the school in the afternoon. While Professor McGonagall would have preferred the children return in two days time, on Sunday 28th of February with the assurance that the headmaster would be unable to interfere.

The issue was resolved, oddly enough, by Molly Weasley, who wouldn't let a little shredded posterior stop her from expressing her feeling, and true to form she had sent poor Errol to Harry and Hermione with a new and improved Super Duper Howler, and to help Errol arrive at Hogwarts for the Thursday morning Owl mail call in the Great Hall, she had travelled to Hogsmeade with Errol and released him from there so he would only have a short flight. Unfortunately for Errol, Harry and Hermione were not at Hogwarts and it took him until Friday afternoon to reach them. But the wards around the Granger residence prevented him from delivering the Howler when he had arrived and he had to wait in a tree in front of the house. As you can imagine the delay caused the new and improved Super Duper Howler to turn black and started to smoke before it went off halfway through the meeting of the Guiding Angels while still attached to poor old Errol's leg.

Madams Bones, Longbottom and Tonks with Professors McGonagall, Flitwick and Sprout, plus Padfoo, Moony, Frank and Alice, Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna instantly recognised the un-dulcet screeching tones of a Molly Weasley Howler that could be briefly summarised for our gentle readers as follows. Molly explained that she was very disappointed in Harry and Hermione for abandoning her Ronniekins, whom she pointed out was Harry's only best mate, and how disappointed she was that Hermione's Muggle parents had failed to raised her to respect her betters, and that she no longer considered them as her children, and that they were no longer welcomed at the Burrow, and that she was uninviting them from her Icky Ronniekins' birthday party to be held in the Great Hall of Hogwarts on Monday 1st of March.

Of course a furious Molly could have gone on forever but Dobby managed to silence it, but the new and improved Super Duper Howler came with a booby trap that would trigger if someone tried to silence it with magic. Winky sensed the danger when it started to hiss, and pulled Dobby to safety behind the wards surrounding the Granger residence.

But sadly the howler's loud explosion echoed around the surrounding houses while still attached to poor old Errol's leg. All that was left was a scattered bunch of owl feathers slowly floating down.

Dan spoke first as the witches and wizards present were horrified at what the red harridan had just done in a Muggle area.

"Well, we can tell the neighbours that that was a noisy car playing loud gangster rap music, and a backfiring truck."

"And I think Harry and Hermione may wish to be away from Hogwarts and unfortunately miss that party." Emma continued drolly as Harry and Hermione nodded.

"Yes, of course." Professor McGonagall sadly agreed. "And that party will most definitely be cancelled as Ronald still has detentions with Professor Snape. But could I suggest that Remus and Sirius do a little tutoring for the week so Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna don't fall behind?"

Padfoo, Moony and Hermione quickly nodded their heads to agree while Madam Bones wrote out the arrest warrant for the Pure-blood witch, Molly _Mollywobbles_ Weasley née Prewett and charged her for breaking the International Statute of Secrecy and for sending a dangerous dark magical artefact to a child.

Madam Bones finished writing and spoke next. "Well I think that concludes our business here for tonight."

She looked around the table as everyone nodded in agreement.

"So, who would like to help me serve this arrest warrant for Molly _Mollywobbles_ Weasley?" She asked with a Cheshire Cat grin as Padfoo and Moony jumped up and rushed off to get to Molly first, while everyone else was ready to go with Madam Bones. "Sorry, Dan and Emma, but you need to look after the children."

Five minutes later and fortunately, before Madam Bones had left the Grangers, she received a strange looking Patronus message to warn her. The glowing silver bit of magic was strange looking as it was not in the shape of any animal but in the shape of a certain famous cute little boy with messy hair and round glasses.

"Oh, that's Nymphadora's Patronus." Madam Tonks informed them as she turned to Harry. "She has the biggest crush ever on you, Harry. And that reminds me, she asked me to get your autograph.."

"Hem!" Madam Bones interrupted as the Patronus started to speak while Hermione, Emma and Luna giggled at the cute little silver Harry.

The little Harry Patronus looked at Madam Bones and open his mouth to speak with a young adult's female voice. "Boss, bad news. A very serious incident of underage magic had been detected in a certain Muggle area near the home of a Miss H. Granger and the Toad is on the war path." And little Harry faded away.

"Damn that witch!" Madam Bones cursed as she turned to the Grangers. "This is bad. Very bad! That means the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, Dolores Jane Umbridge, is out to cause trouble for Hermione. Molly will have to wait."

"What can she do?" Harry asked as he remembered his previous experience. "The Minister fixed it all up after I blew up my other aunt up two years ago?"

"Normally it is just a warning delivered by an Owl. But it sounds like she wants to get nasty after what happened after the Second Task." Madam Bones explained.

Then a beautiful silver doe entered the living room where they were all gathered together and slowly walked up to Professor McGonagall as everyone watched in wonder at the amazing sight.

"Minerva?" The beautiful female deer spoke in Professor Snape's deep slow voice which got a giggle from Emma for being so incongruous. "The castle wards have defaulted to me which means that the headmaster, Filius, Pomona and you are not present in the castle. I have had word to be where I can be seen which means something big is about to go down. I assume that you are with Mr Potter and can easily imagine that is where it will happen. I have locked down the castle so no one can get out or in, and I have also activated Protego Horribillis and Piertotum Locomotor in case there is a diversionary assault on the castle. That should be enough to force the headmaster to return here before he can interfere." The doe turned to the right and uncannily looked at Harry and Hermione. "Mr Potter? I know you would be there. Keep your head down. Anything you do will be used by the headmaster against you. Good luck!"

The doe faded away as Minerva spoke. "Damn, I always wanted to use that spell, Piertotum Locomotor."

"And Severus is more Slytherin than I thought. I only showed him that Protego Horribillis charm once." Filius said in awe.

"What does this mean?" Harry asked Hermione.

"Protego Horribillis is two levels above Protego Totalum." She replied. "It means that the castle of Hogwarts is in Battle Mode. All her defences have been activated and that hasn't happen since Gellert Grindelwald. I read that in Hogwarts a History."

"Correct, Miss Granger, take fifty points for Gryffindor." Professor McGonagall said.

The little Harry Patronus returned and said in a quiet fearful female voice. "The Toad has called Dawlish, Yaxley, Macnair and their nasty friends. There may be ten of them. You don't have much time. Good luck." And faded away.

"Damn, the Toad is bringing Death Eaters. This is not going to end well." Madam Bones cursed. "We need to evacuate.."

"NO! We will fight!" Madam Augusta Longbottom counter ordered cutting off Amelia. "That scum are coming to burn this home to the ground and slaughter Hermione and her parents. But they don't know we are here!"

"But?"

"Aggie is right. If we run, the Grangers will lose their home and Dumbledore will use that to get rid of Hermione and force his control over Harry." Minerva reasoned. "If we don't stand together against to these scumbags, no one will! And they will walk all over everyone again!"

"I really want to kick some Death Eater booty!" Frank said in agreement as Alice nodded and she added. "We need to end the scourge of the Death Eaters tonight. They are just a bunch of cowards and we have the element of surprise!"

"Then we need to make this as big of a mess for Fudge and Dumbledore as possible so even Malfoy's gold couldn't wash it under the carpet." Filius added.

As Dan left the room and returned with two of his father's old double-barrelled shotguns and two boxes of buckshot. He gave one to Emma with the box of buckshot as he turned to the witches and wizards.

"This is my family, my home, my castle, and we are now in Battle Mode too." Dan stated.

Emma took the double-barrelled shotgun and loaded it. She closed the breech with a loud click and said with determination. "None shall pass!"

Madam Bones grinned as she knew what those shotguns could do, particularly with buckshot. "Mr Granger, Mrs Granger, you are the last line. Make sure no one sneaks into your castle. Andy, you stay to protect the children." She turned to the others. "Witches and wizards to me. We will go outside and defend this castle."

"With extreme prejudice." Augusta Longbottom added grimly.

They went outside while Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna used their wands to move the living room furniture to form a barricade from where they could watch both front and back entrances, and Hermione cast the spell to turn their fort of chairs, couches and pillows into stone. Dan and Emma were amazed to watch the children in action.

Hermione and Luna raided the kitchen for snacks and drinks as they made themselves comfortable and waited.

While Harry remembered that this was the Ministry and what happened in third year. He took out his wand, thought of Hermione and cast. "Expecto Patronum!"

The glowing silver stag came out of his wand as Dan and Emma looked on in wonder. The stag turned to face Harry and bow.

Then he charged outside where the others were.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Madam Bones proudly led the witches and wizards out into the cool night air. Filius cast the Protego Horribillis charm to strengthen the wards surrounding the Grangers' residence, and then went with Dobby and Winky to the park on the other side of the street to be ready to put up a second set of defensive, silencing, anti-apparition, and anti-Portkey wards to seal off and protect the Muggle neighbours once Umbridge had arrived, and to prevent any attackers from escaping or calling for reinforcements.

Pomona waved her wand over the garden to get the plants and trees ready to attack any invaders, while Minerva cast the Piertotum Locomotor charm on the Grangers' garden statues and they came to life. The lions, Winged Gargoyle and the Gothic Stone Dragon moved to guard the back of the house while the fairies, elves, Dwarves and gnomes picked up various gardening tools like axes, pitchforks, Scythes, and rakes, and moved to guard both sides of the house. While the human size statues of the David, the Venus of Pietrasanta, a winged Archangel of Patience and a ten foot tall Easter Island Moai called, Tiny Tim, appeared ghostly white in the moon light as they raided the garden shed and helped themselves to Dan's new weed-whacker fitted with a wicked looking razor sharp Carbide Tipped 40 Tooth Brush Cutter Blade and two twenty-four inch chainsaws. They moved quietly as they joined the witches and wizards at the front. While the Easter Island Moai didn't have any separately defined hands, arms or legs, but Tiny Tim did look wickedly menacing on his own as he made a continuous hup hup hup sound as he rocked from side to side to move slowly forward.

They spread out to take up their positions and hid in the garden just behind the wards and waited.

They didn't have to wait long as only two minutes later, little Harry appeared for the last time and whispered to Madam Bones.

"They're coming!"

Then they heard the unmistakable windy fart sound of the Ministry Portkey as it deposited the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, Dolores Jane Umbridge, with Mafalda Hopkirk from the Improper Use of Magic Office in the Ministry of Magic, with Aurors John Dawlish and Corban Yaxley, and three other Death Eater stooges of the Ministry and dear friends of Lucius Malfoy; they were Walden Macnair, Albert Runcorn, and Pius Thicknesse. Macnair had brought two others, Alecto and Amycus Carrow who were wearing their old Death Eater regalia. Dolores had also borrowed the Minister's two Dementor bodyguards, Oscar and Ralph, and they glided slowly to the back as the ground froze underneath them.

They had allegedly come to snap Miss Granger's wand and arrest her for the very serious offence of underage magic before Muggles. But if she didn't come quietly, they were also ready to do some evil.

Umbridge was already fuming over how the boy had so disrespected her dear Fudgy during the second task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament and the post task debriefing, that she jumped at the chance to eliminate the boy's Know-It-All-Mudblood. She called all of her most favourite and nasty bigots to come and have some fun. She had invited the Minister's best friend, Lucius Malfoy, to come along but he declined saying that he wouldn't get out of bed for one Mudblood.

What Umbridge in her haste and ignorance didn't know was that Lucius Malfoy knew that wherever the Mudblood was, Potter would be there too, and he had learnt from bitter experience to not to go after the boy without all his Death Eater buddies and with the dark lord leading them. Lucius could hardly wait to read tomorrows Daily Prophet and see how big a mess the Toad had made, and what the Minister would give him to fix it. So he had sent a message to warn his dear friends to stay away and to be seen somewhere else. He hoped that they would listen.

Madam Umbridge sneered as she assembled her forces and didn't notice the new wards going up to surround and trap them. She would have liked a few more but she was glad she had brought two Dementors and so she had more than enough to handle one Mudblood and her Muggle parents. She sent Yaxley and Macnair to circle around and attack from the back as she proudly led the rest to storm through the front door of the Grangers' residence. She didn't do friendly polite house calls.

But when the Toad hit the wards that surrounded the Granger's residence, she went ballistic as she screamed.

"Illegal wards on a Muggle hovel! How dare that bitch do that! Burn it! Burn it all to the ground!"

"Fiendfyre!"

They cried as if it was a celebratory cheer as they raised their wands and cast their dark Fiendfyre curses on the wards and garden.

That was when Madam Bones made her presence felt and she was backed up by the Vengeful Kitty, a former duelling champion, an expert in gardening warfare and the Longbottoms. But they had no idea how loud the powered weed-whacker and chainsaws could be on a quiet Friday night and they hesitated for a moment as Prongs ripped past and charged down the two Dementors and ripped them apart with his antlers to destroy them and distracted the Death Eaters. Just as the ghostly white statues snarled and surged forward through the wards and their sudden appearance with the very noisy things they were waving around frightened the crap out of the Death Eaters so much that they were frozen in place and forgot to continue casting the Fiendfyre or even think of anything to protect themselves.

Harry's Guiding Angels saw the shock and awe in the terrified faces of the Death Eater. They were not expecting a fight and the screams of the dying Dementors chilled them to the bone.

The ghostly white statues charged forward as Tiny Tim made a quick continuous hup hup hup hup hup hup sound as he took short hurried hops to charge forward as fast as a winger for the All Blacks determined to make a last second try, and ploughed through the Death Eaters like they were bowling pins and knocked them down until he mowed down Dawlish on the end and stamp all over his broken his legs. The other statues followed in Tiny Tim's wake and started to hack off pieces of the shocked raiding party of the evil Umbridge. Runcorn and Thicknesse had their wand arms hacked off by the David and Venus statues wielding the loud revving chainsaws as they laid screaming to the ground after the Moai had crushed their left foot. While the Archangel of Patience spread her wings to take flight and dive-bombed them. Hopkirk and the Carrow siblings dropped their wands as they tried to get up and run away, but the Archangel of Patience came screaming in with her weed-whacker hard and fast, and she hacked off the left foot from the scumbags as they fell back to the ground shrieking in pain.

Then in the pale moonlight, the ghostly white statues slowly turned to face Umbridge with an evil grin as they revved up their loud chainsaws and weed-whacker while she soiled herself as she suddenly remembered that she had an emergency escape Portkey. She frantically tried to find it, just as Madam Bones came through the wards and cheerfully took down the Toad with an almighty stunner to the chest that was powered by twenty years of frustrations and anger. It hit the Toad so hard that she did a complete two and half back flip and landed on her face.

"That felt so good to finally do that!" Madam Bones smiled.

The Longbottoms cheerfully finished off Hopkirk, Dawlish, Runcorn, Thicknesse and the Carrow siblings with powerful bone breakers and stunners while Minerva stopped her victorious statues and sent them back into the garden to find any other Death Eaters, as Pomona and Filius started to put out the remains of the Fiendfyre with the help of Dobby and Winky.

Then they heard screams coming from the backyard as Yaxley and Macnair had gotten tangled up in the garden and then they were attacked by the fairies, elves, Dwarves and gnomes, and were finished off by the lions, the Winged Gargoyle and the Gothic Stone Dragon. They were put down hard and had every bone in their miserable bodies broken with their wand arms ripped off.

The Guiding Angels congratulated each other with high-fives and fist pumps, as Minerva re-enacted Amelia's takedown of the Toad for the fourth time. It felt that good! They were surprised how quickly they had defeated and stunned the raiding party and how effective the Muggle gardening tools were. Though the Longbottoms were a little out of practice and may have overpowered the hexes and maybe even broken more bones than they need too. Poor Alice was so out of practice that she had to revive and re-stun Hopkirk and the Carrows siblings three times each before she was satisfied with the result. But they were back and they felt GREAT!

Filius levitated the cut up and beaten, barely breathing bodies of Yaxley and Macnair as Madam Bones then sent a Patronus message to summons her own loyal Aurors and healers who made sure these Death Eaters would live to face justice. While Dan and Emma came out of their home with the children and Andy to see the damage as Dobby and Winky brought out some hot chocolate and tea to calm the nerves as the idea their victory and success sunk in. They had changed their world that night. They had seen the statues attack the Death Eaters and how easily they were put down when they were not expecting resistance and froze. But they didn't know what to make of Harry's Patronus destroying not one but two Dementors.

Hermione thought her statue of the Archangel of Patience, something her parents thought she needs a lot more of, was magnificent with her weed-whacker. Emma thought her statue of the David looked racy wielding a chainsaw but then she remembered how hot Dan looked when he took charge to defend his family and castle, and he didn't need a shotgun. While Dan thought the statue of Venus looked risqué with her chainsaw resting on her hip but he remembered how hot Emma looked as she determinedly followed his lead to protect the children. He couldn't wait until Sirius and Moony returned to look after the kids so he could show his appreciation for his wife.

Luna followed the fairies and found Macnair's executioner's axe and she didn't want to think why he had brought that evil thing with him. She asked Dobby to drop it into a volcano so it couldn't harm another creature.

Dobby gave it to Fawkes who flashed away and dropped it into Eyjafjallajökull, in Iceland.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

It would be an understatement to say that Umbridge and her band of Death Eater thugs were shocked to be revived to find themselves bound in chains and looking up at the wand of a very angry Madam Bones.

"RELEASE US AT ONC...!" The Toad viciously shrieked but was silenced by an overpowered stunner from a Cheshire Cat Grinning Minerva.

"My turn next?" Filius requested as Madam Bones waved her wand to revive the Toad.

"RELEASE US AT O...!" The Toad viciously screamed but was silenced by an overpowered stunner from the half Goblin Professor which hit the Toad's head so hard that it spun around a complete 360.

"May I?" Asked Pomona as she revived the Toad yet again.

"RELEASE US...!" The Toad viciously screeched again as the Professor of Herbology waved her wand filled the Toad's mouth with stringing nettles and silenced her.

"Very good." Madam Bones said with a chuckle as she cheerfully threw the riot book at them and when they tried to protest she threaten to charged them with attempted murder and conducting an illegal Death Eater raid. She cheerfully ripped up the trumped-up illegal arrest warrant, sacked Mafalda Hopkirk and the Aurors on the spot for not reporting the underage Magic incident to her first, for her instructions as per protocol.

Then the interfering Undersecretary Umbridge managed to spit out the stinging nettles and tried to throw her weight around by claiming.

"It was only a disgusting Mudblood and some filthy nasty Muggles. None of this will stick! Fudgy will throw this out and I will have your heads!"

The Toad was silenced by Madam Longbottom who flicked her wand to fill the Toad's mouth with poison Ivy as she coldly said.

"My family was in that home and you tried to burn it to the ground with Fiendfyre. That is what Voldemort's Death Eaters did!"

She took delight in watching the Toad flinch at the name of that monster as she continued.

"You led a band of supposedly reformed marked Death Eaters on a Death Eater raid on Muggles. That makes you a Death Eater!"

She pointed to Yaxley, Macnair, Runcorn, Thicknesse and the Carrows.

"Claiming that you were under the Imperius Curse won't save you from the Veil this time. You were caught red-handed."

Sick of the Toad's continued shouting attempts to interfere and bully her way out, Madam Bones arrested the lot of them and sent them to her holding cells with her loyal Aurors, and charged them as active Death Eaters and attempted murder of the heads of the Longbottom, Potter, Granger and Bones families. Charges that even Fudge or Dumbledore couldn't sweep under the rug. She added the charge of Perverting the Course of Justice to Umbridge. In England and Wales it is a common law offence, carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment in Azkaban.

Madam Bones was very happy to have a reason to get rid of the Minister's spies from her department and to stomp all over the aspirations of the interfering manipulative Toad. Though she was a little surprised to find out that Lucius Malfoy had declined to participate in the raid. While Madam Longbottom with Frank and Alice were very happy to kick some Death Eater booty again.

And to kick it very hard!

It was a good night!

And it got better!

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

But as quick Padfoo and Moony were, Dobby and Winky were quicker and Molly was hardly recognisable by the time Madam Bones eventually arrived with everyone else.

When Arthur discovered what Molly had done, and the very dangerous situation she had caused, he happily sent her off with Madam Bones. He had always told her that her Howlers would get her into a lot of trouble one day.

Though Molly wasn't that worried as she knew that Dumbledore would fix it.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

It was a furious headmaster who had been forced to return back to the school after he received Severus' message of a possible attack and his monitoring charms warned him that the castle had gone into lockdown and then Battle Mode.

Earlier that evening, the headmaster's portrait spy network which reached into the Ministry of Magic, had reported a serious incident of underage Magic at the home of Miss Granger and he had immediately left the castle to see how the Ministry would react this time. He hid behind his invisibility charms, and he was happy to let the Toad take her war party. Frustratingly, he had received message from Severus just as he was about to follow Umbridge to the Grangers' residence where he would have waited in the shadows for the right moment to save the night and take charge of the chaos to his advantage.

The headmaster was fuming as Fawkes didn't answer his call and he wasted so much time as he waited outside while he instructed Severus in how to take the castle out of Battle Mode. Once inside he couldn't leave the school until Minerva returned from wherever she had disappeared to.

The headmaster bitterly reprimanded his Deputy Headmistress when she finally returned very early in the morning but she was having none of that as she had had a very good night, great in fact, none of which she shared with the furious headmaster, and so she added insult to injury and went all Vengeful Kitty on his posterior again.

So it was a few days before the headmaster could interfere and manipulate events for his Greater Good but by then it was too late.

Far too late!

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Given the current popularity of Harry Potter and Hermione Granger with Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood with the famous photos from Quibbler special editions of the Yule Ball of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Plus the miraculous recovery of Frank and Alice Longbottom after a previous vicious Death Eater attack.

And counterbalancing that against the fast sinking popularity of Fudge's Administration after the calamitous Second Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament and the disastrous post task debriefing.

And add in the fact that no one was listening to the headmaster anymore!

It wouldn't take much to imagine the Wizarding public's reaction to discover that their favourite heroes had been embroiled in a new vicious Death Eater attack on their home by supposedly reformed Death Eaters who were also employees of the Ministry of Magic and led by the unpopular Toad.

Well, they wanted blood when they saw the full page pictures in the Quibbler and the Daily Prophet of the stunned Death Eaters with their dark mark exposed for all to see!

They wanted them all thrown through the Veil!

They wanted their world to be finally purged of the scourge of the Death Eaters!

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Being caught red-handed by the Head of the DMLE and with the last spell found in their wands being the terrible Fiendfyre curse, that meant that the combined Death Eater trial was always going to be a slam dunk and all that really remained to be decided was would they get the Veil or life in Azkaban?

The Minister couldn't help the headmaster save Molly, as he was busy trying to save his Toad, and it cost Lucius Malfoy a vault full of gold to stop his dear foolish friends from being thrown through the Veil in the Death Chamber. He had to avoid at all costs having mark Death Eater being sent through the Veil for innocent harmless Death Eater activities. The headmaster lost what little credibility he had when he added his voice and support to spare them from their well deserved fate, and give them a second chance.

It was a very close decision which angered everyone, but they all still went to Azkaban including Umbridge, Hopkirk and Dawlish. To appease the Longbottoms, the convicted marked Death Eaters had their Gringotts vaults confiscated and given to the Longbottoms, Potter and Bones families. Dumbledore didn't argue against that until he discovered that he had no control over Harry's portion and he wouldn't see a brass razoo. Madam Longbottom was on a roll and she had the Lestrange vaults confiscated as well, to pay for the medical bills of Frank and Alice, and to fund the new Longbottom Ward of Magical Musical Cures and Dancing at St Mungo's. She had the Goblins search the Lestrange vault for any dangerous dark artefacts before she touched any of the gold and the Goblins were furious to discover a certain gold cup with a very dark magic curse had been stored in the vault. They destroyed gold cup before Dumbledore could demand it. Then again the Goblins had never listened to the interfering Manipulative Old Fool.

Madam Bones always knew that Lucius Malfoy would use his gold in an attempt to Pervert the Course of Justice and to stop his dear friends from going through the Veil. She just waited for the right moment for that little secret to be discovered by the Quibbler and Daily Prophet, and it would cost Malfoy another vault full of Gold to avoid joining his friends in Azkaban. Madam Bones used the gold to pay restitution to Aurors and Hit Wizards and Witches who were injured in the last Blood War of Voldemort or sadly their families. As she knew that would upset Malfoy the most. But he went on an emergency overseas business trip as soon as he got home and no one knew when he would return.

But when the news of the Malfoy perversion incident and later his subsequent escape hit the front page, the Wizarding public reacted as they didn't a repeat of the last time. Fudge in an attempt to be seen to be doing something had to request Madam Bones to roundup all the free known reformed Death Eaters and throw them into Azkaban while their old trials were being reviewed. Only the direct intervention by Harry Potter spared Professor Snape from the Purge of Fudge.

The round up of all known free reformed Death Eaters went easy at first but they soon wised up and stopped going quietly which had resulted in injuries for Madam Bones loyal Aurors. The remaining Death Eaters gathered at the residence of lord Nott to make what was their last stand. Castle Nott was an old restored medieval fortress with very strong wards, stone walls and unknown dark cursed booby traps, and Madam Bones didn't wish to risk the lives of her brave men and women. So she apparated over to the Granger residence and asked Dan and Emma if she could borrow David, Venus, Patience and Tiny Tim, plus the weed-whacker and chainsaws.

Madam Bones cast the Piertotum Locomotor charm on her new deputies and used a rope Portkey to return to Castle Nott with the White Ghost Team. Her Aurors had heard about these new assistants and some doubted how effective they could be against such a well protected fortress.

Madam Bones pointed where she wished for them to go and instructed them to only maim and injure. The ghostly white statues revved their tools and charged forward as Tiny Tim had improved and made a quicker continuous hup hup hup hup hup hup sound as the Moai short hurried hops were even faster than a winger for the All Blacks determined to make a last second try, and ploughed through the wards and his volcanic stone absorbed the magic powering the wards. The wards were soon drained and collapsed with a hiss. Supercharged, Tiny Tim smashed through the heavy oak gate and hupped up the yellow brick path to the front door, triggering dark cursed booby traps as he went. David, Venus and Patience charged on closely behind revving their garden tools.

The Aurors would later swear that they saw the old stone castle bounce up and down, and rocked from side to side as the Moai smashed through the front door with his friends and destroyed it. Moments later terrified Death Eaters ran out and begged to be arrested. The panic-stricken Death Eaters were so overcome with shock and awe that some didn't realise that they had had their wand arms hacked off while others were missing their left foot. But what they did know was that they never wanted to see those ghostly white things again.

Sadly Venus and Patience returned from the dungeon of Castle Nott with two Muggle girls who pointed out Nott, Crabbe and Goyle. Venus and Patience kicked them in the groin so hard that they shattered their pelvis.

Hestia Jones turned to her boss. "Impressive, they did all that and still only maimed and injured."

"Yes, and nothing that a long stay in Azkaban won't fix." Amelia cheerfully agreed.

Madam Bones had her Aurors investigate and search what was left of Castle Nott, and she was so glad to have brought the White Ghost Team as she knew she would have lost Aurors to the dark wards and booby traps without them.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

It cost all of the headmaster's remaining political favours to stop Molly from going to Azkaban. But Molly had to pay a huge fine which meant that she didn't have any money to make the potions the headmaster had requested, and she had write an apology to Harry, Hermione and her parents that was approved by Arthur. Plus Ronald had to give up his owl, Pig, to be the new owl of the Weasley Family but Molly was forbidden from using him.

It got worse for Molly when Arthur asked her where she got the money from that she used to pay the fine.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Minister Cornelius Fudge was only hanging onto his job only by his fingernails and sometimes wondered why the new power in the Wizengamot, Madams Bones and Longbottom, kept him around if not to make him suffer.

But for some unfathomable reason the Minister was desperate to get his Toad back, unfortunately, he really stuck his foot in it when he suggested that his Undersecretary was acting under the Imperius Curse cast by the notorious mass murderer and the right hand of You-Know-Who, Sirius Black. Madams Bones and Longbottom hexed him to hell and back as everyone knew the nasty bigotry of Umbridge, and she did not need to be under any Imperius Curse for her to attack Muggles or Muggle-borns.

To dig himself out of that hole, Minister Fudge, had to give Madam Bones everything she wanted, he had to give an oath that he would not interfere in her department or use her Aurors for his own personal agenda, he had to reverse all budget cuts that his friend Lucius had bribed him to make, and rescind the kiss on sight order for Sirius Black, plus supply the funds for more Aurors, more training and the latest equipment.

After the investigation into the old Wizengamot Death Eater trials had revealed how corrupt they were and all the marked Death Eaters were left in Azkaban to await new trials. It also was revealed that Sirius Black never got a trial. But when Madam Bones tried to get Sirius a trial, Fudge pointed out that it was Dumbledore who was blocking that and he couldn't help her.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

But it still took the Minister three months to get his Toad out of Azkaban and back as his Undersecretary. Unfortunately she had to be kept on a very short leash as her truncated holiday in Hell had made her quite vicious.

Well, even more vicious.

So vicious in fact that the Minister had to resort to having the last four months of her life completely medically obliviated so he could get his Toad back, all happily sneering, bright eyes and slimy tail in horrid pink, as if nothing had happened.

When the all new Toad asked the Minister. "Fudgy, where is Oscar and Ralph?"

The annoyed Minister replied through clenched teeth. "Someone borrowed them and they got eaten."

"Don't be silly Fudgy, who could possibly hurt a Dementor?" The Toad laughed with her horrible girlish giggle, while Fudge just looked at her and raised one eyebrow. But she ignored him and then said in a more serious tone. "And Fudgy, why are my dear friends rotting away in Azkaban?"

The exhausted frustrated Minister looked her in the eye. "Dolores, it would be wise for you to keep your big mouth shut, keep your head down, leave Potter the hell alone and stay away from Bones and Longbottom!"

Not used to being spoken to like that, the Toad was suitably miffed.

As if she could do that to save herself.

Them Thar Fighting Words.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

After the dust had settled and the headmaster had moment to think and reflect, he was shocked to realise the extent of the staggering damage Molly's stupidity had caused to all his plans and schemes for the Greater Good. Tom's hidden secret support network that he had worked long and hard to maintain ready for Tom's return had been exposed and destroyed with all the key reformed Death Eaters rotting in Azkaban instead of corrupting the Ministry from the inside. That fool Malfoy, had wasted so much gold to save his stupid friends from the Veil and then he had to disappear himself. Worse still that anserine interfering Bones witch had broken free of her shackles and taken complete command of the DMLE, doubled her budget and the number of Aurors and had the useless Minister wrapped around her little finger while the Toad had been completely neutered and there was no one left to do his dirty work.

Even Tom after years of war, or the boy or the witch, Lily, hadn't caused this much damage so quickly, and just at a time when he was so sure that Tom would be back real soon now.

Sadly, all Tom had to return to was the rat and the bad acting of Barty junior. As if the Death Eater could have fooled him! He grimly chuckled.

Everyone else was rotting in Azkaban, or missing or dead.

How was Tom supposed to kill the boy now?

How could Tom be even considered a worthy dark lord for the Greatest Wizard Ever, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, to defeat in glorious battle?

How would anyone remember him if he only defeated one and three-quarters of the most feared dark lords of the last century.

Every way Dumbledore looked at it, it was an unmitigated disaster. He couldn't help himself as he was overcame by the unbelievable dumbfounding lost to all his plans for the Greater Good caused by the stupidity of the red harridan and her moronic cretin of a son, he just hung his head and cried.

He cried so bitterly for the first time since Gellert left him all those years ago.

Worse still, he didn't have control of the boy or the school, and even his pet Death Eater didn't want his protection any more.

For the first time in the long life of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, he just didn't know what to do next.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Former Auror John Dawlish looked around at what will be his home for the foreseeable future. He thought he would end up here in Azkaban after the fall of the dark lord but for some reason the Ministry and Dumbledore were giving out free passes to anyone not a diehard Death Eater otherwise most of the Pure-bloods would have been rotting away in Azkaban. That and Malfoy's gold. He had felt such a fool as he had only taken the dark mark a week before Potter happened and the dark lord was gone. Dumbledore had gotten him his free pass but nothing that manipulative wizard did was for free. His penance was to become an Auror and spy on the new Minister and his Senior Undersecretary so that the Leader of the Light was not kept in the dark.

He had received Malfoy's warning not to go but he felt he owed it to the headmaster to watch the Toad, and that was why he willingly went with Umbridge to investigate an incident of underage magic. He didn't like Muggles and particularly Muggle-borns as they always seemed to be better at magic than he was. He had kept the headmaster up to date of the Death Eater Muggle baiting raids that Slippery Lucius organised and was a little disappointed that the headmaster hadn't done something more to stop them than just sadly shaking his head. He, himself, was a little squeamish in actually killing the Muggles and Muggle-borns, and was glad the Toad had brought the Minister's two Dementor bodyguards, Oscar and Ralph, to finish them off.

That was why he was standing off to the side when the Toad hopped quickly and hit the wards surrounding the Granger residence. Furious, she ordered them to burn it to the ground. He had cast Fiendfyre with the rest of them, when they were suddenly surprised by a huge bright silver stag that charged out of nowhere and rushed past them as it headed directly for the Dementors and then the Merlin awful screams as the Stag ripped the Dementors apart. He never knew a Dementor could scream like that or even die, but that Merlin awful scream was like the scream of all the souls the Dementor had kissed being liberated from hell at once. Then came that impossibly loud annoying roar from in front of us and that haunting hup hup hup sound as the ground shook and that stone monster charged out of nowhere bowling over the other Death Eaters like witches at a half price sale. And then that stone monster stamped all over his broken legs as two other stone demons and an angel followed wielding those terrible noisy evil looking thing that he had never seen before. They hacked at his fellow Death Eaters.

The shock and awe with so much blood and the screams. He had never crapped himself so many times so quickly.

Then the Toad tried to run away and abandon them, but then Madam Bones appeared like Merlin himself and way scarier than Dumbledore or even the dark lord, and took her down so hard with an overpowered stunner to the chest.

Then it all went black as he had passed out due to the pain.

The next thing he knew was waking up in the interrogation rooms and being questioned by Hestia Jones. When he found out that Madam Bones and the Longbottoms had been visiting the Grangers that night, he knew the headmaster wouldn't be saving him from Azkaban this time.

He was just thankful Malfoy had enough gold to stop them all from going through the Veil and he just enjoyed the silence after the Toad had been taken away.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

With the Firestorm raging on Death Eaters, Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna returned triumphantly to Hogwarts two weeks late, and were even more popular after everyone heard what had happened to the Toad, the red harridan and all of the unreformed Death Eaters. There were a number of thankful students at Hogwarts who had lost family to Voldemort and his Death Eaters, and it was painful for them to see the perpetrators walking around free and still spreading their bigotry and hatred.

While the headmaster and the MoRon-Who-Had-Made-Hermione-Cry kept their heads down and stayed out of sight.

Well, Ronald stayed out of sight with Lavender.

While Severus Snape was ever so happy that he had changed his spots and his stars as he tried to actively help Lily's son and had escape the unbelievable disaster that had befallen the headmaster, Molly, Ronald, the Toad, and especially his former Death Eater friends. He couldn't believe that it was only Harry Potter's direct intervention to the Minister that had saved him from Azkaban this time, and that really upset the headmaster no end. And it felt so good when he finally told the old fool that he no longer needed his protection and that Mr Potter had done more in three months to help him redeem himself than the headmaster had done in fourteen years. And he made sure the next generation of would be Death Eaters had the fear of Merlin scared into them to encourage them to stay on the straight and narrow. Or what Potter has done to the dark lord and the Death Eaters, he would do to them and anyone else who tried to hurt his friends. Fortunately, Draco had learnt his lesson as he was worried about his missing father. But he had to continually remind the red dunderhead during his ongoing detentions that this was all his mother's fault and he should try learn from her mistakes or he was doomed.

After a very exciting month of March, the remaining school year pass smoothly and everyone enjoyed the monthly balls and loved the castle full of music.

Harry and the three Tri-Wizard Tournament champions worked together to prepare for the third task, and all too soon it was upon them.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Hermione's parents had given the fairies, elves, Dwarves, gnomes, lions, Winged Gargoyle and the Gothic Stone Dragon garden statues to her so she could re-enact her favourite stories in the garden as a ploy to get her out of the house and into the fresh air and sunshine. They gave her the Archangel of Patience to encourage her to be more patient and not want to grow up so quickly. The David and Venus statues were to complement their new swimming pool while Emma's twin sister sent her, Tiny Tim, the ten foot tall Easter Island Moai that she had picked up somewhere in her travels.

But on the night that they came alive to protect their family, they were covered in magical blood which they absorbed, so that in the magic of the full moon they lived again and partied all night long.

Dan and Emma worked it out after discovering Tiny Tim swimming on the bottom of their pool and finding David, Venus and Patience relaxing in their hot tub. They had to wait until the next full moon to get them out.

Then Dan discovered that Tiny Tim and David loved to watch the Rugby with him.

While Venus and Patience couldn't wait for Halloween when they could lead all the fairies, elves, Dwarves, gnomes, lions, Winged Gargoyle and the Gothic Stone Dragon, and go find all the childhood bullies who had made their Hermione cry.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

 _Thank you for reading._


	10. The actual calm before the Storm

Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again.

Chapter 10. The actual calm before the Storm of the Third Task.

31/12/18 Beta by alix33. Thank you.

I don't own the Harry Potter verse. Just playing.

Thank you for all your kind reviews.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Slowly, the Magic of the Night continued to fight back against the evil of the Greater Good and the desperate attempts of the Minister of Magic to be seen as doing something.

There was hope that appeared when Harry and Fleur had combined their resources to survive the second task and save the lives of their loved ones who had been put in danger by the manipulative devious headmaster.

Their courageous example was not lost on the other two champions who decided to join forces to survive.

The champions' courageous example to put aside their aspirations and work together to survive was not lost on the students from all three schools, and certain Professors, and they could see an opportunity to make a difference as the winds of change were growing in strength.

And the Magic of the Night would never give up!

Never surrender!

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

As the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, together with the Headmistress and Headmaster of the other two schools, the ICW and the Ministry of Magic of both the British and French, had formally banned the Pure-blood witch, Molly _Mollywobbles_ Weasley née Prewett from Hogwarts for the remaining duration of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, Professor McGonagall ignored the headmaster's fears, concerns and sad disappointed eyes, and went out of her way to officially invite and bring Hermione's parents to Hogwarts to be Harry's family on the day of the third task. She was glad to see that they had nice dress robes to wear which would keep the old manipulative headmaster from finding an excuse to interfere.

Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna with the Quibbler's official photographer, Colin, and Anastasia, AKA Tonks the undercover Auror, gave Dan and Emma the grand tour of the school and they loved to see the castle full of magic, music and happy students.

Anastasia used the Marauder's Map to avoid accidentally meeting the Manipulative Old Fool. Remus had shown Harry and Hermione some of the features of the map and they had shown Anastasia and she was using the Cat and Mouse tracking feature to set the map to follow and give warning if a nominated person, such as the headmaster, had got too close to them. A couple of times the map warned them and provided an escape route to avoid a close call which added to the excitement as the group enjoyed the cat and mouse game with the headmaster. The Marauders had used this feature to avoid being caught during their pranks. Unfortunately the one drawback of the Cat and Mouse tracking feature that they were unaware of was that the map's focus was on the nominated person and not on where you were or who else was around you.

Hermione's parents were amazed as they recognised the gigantic mounted photo of the _Waltz of Love,_ on the wall in the entrance hall of the castle. It was so big that they could clearly see the faces of everyone there and even see the ghost of the Grey Lady dancing alone in the background. While Harry was happy they didn't notice who was dancing with the Dragon in the other photo mounted on the wall behind them as he was sure Emma would want to see the dragon. The Tri-Wizard Tournament photos from the Quibbler were another thing the headmaster had been unable to remove though he had tried really hard.

Peeves was the only one they met who expressed a negative thought when he saw Emma and Hermione together, and ran away screaming in terror.

"No, Sweet Merlin No! There are two of them!"

Harry was so proud of his Hermione and rewarded her with a kiss while the Slytherin House ghost, the Bloody Baron, came to meet the only living person Peeves was afraid of and had a lovely chat with Emma, he even told her his sorry tale. Then the Grey Lady came and told her side of the sad tale and Emma suggested that after all this time that they forgive each other as they couldn't change the past and their failure to forgive was continuing to punish each other. After almost a thousand years, it was time to start a new friendship and then the Grey Lady would have a dance partner for the monthly balls and could start to be happy again. They decided to try and the two ancient ghosts left smiling and holding hands.

As the happy group toured the castle the various Professors gave them a presentation of the subjects they taught and had Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna demonstrate the magic they had learnt. Professor McGonagall had them demonstrating the various transfigurations, Professor Flitwick had them do charms while Professor Moody gave an impressive display of defensive magic as he had the students duel him, four on one.

With his cry of. "Constant Vigilance!" Professor Moody was easily winning against the Golden Quartet and he seemed to have the stamina of a much younger wizard. Until Harry remembered how effective Prongs had been at distracting in his last battle against the Toad and her Death Eaters, so he thought of Hermione, cast his Patronus and sent the silver stag charging at the one and half leg professor. The distraction allowed the Golden Quartet to finally bring down the old Auror with stunners. Emma thought it was an unfair advantage but the old Auror dismissed that with a grumbled as he still had to play his undercover role.

"All was fair in fighting dark wizards that were trying to kill you and that was a brilliant bit of thinking outside the box, Potter. Your parents would be so proud of you."

Harry was rewarded with a kiss from Hermione and a hug from Emma, Luna and Anastasia, while Moody, AKA Barty junior, again wondered why his master was so insistent on using the boy for his rebirth. He knew the boy was a powerful wizard but his unorthodox brilliance could make him very dangerous.

Professor Snape was very proud to show off his new Potions Lab. He had tried for years to move out of the dungeon but the headmaster wouldn't hear of it. So Severus had waited until the Manipulative Old Fool was completely distracted by his schemes to regain control the boy and two weeks after Harry had returned to the school, the Slytherin Potions Professor asked again during the evening meal in the Great Hall. The headmaster quickly agreed to the request of the Potions Master just so he could be free to focus on the boy. The other Professors were surprised that the move had finally been approved and followed Severus example to get their own special needs and projects approved. Madam Hooch, the Quidditch teacher, was very quick to ask the distracted annoyed headmaster for new brooms for the school. And she got them. While Professor McGonagall nicely asked the frustrated demented headmaster and got access to all the gold the headmaster had squirrelled away in his secret vault for his Special Projects for the Greater Good. She was one very happy Vengeful Kitty and took the lot to pay for a new living History of Magic professor and to fund the other professors' special needs and projects. Even Hagrid had a special project he needed the headmaster to approve and for the Vengeful Kitty to fund.

Professor Snape had moved the Potions Lab to the third floor opposite the room where Fluffy was kept. The new classroom was big, bright and airy with plenty of space, light and fresh air and was a major improvement over the old dungeon. He led Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna in a demonstration to make one of his own special pain killer potion he had called the Draught of Innocuousness that he thought might be of interest to Dan and Emma. It was a potion he had developed to help treat the effects of the Cruciatus Curse in his fellow Death Eaters but it wasn't powerful enough to be a complete cure as the curse also had a mental effect as well as muscular pain. He had let St Mungo's use the potion to help relax their patients suffering cramps from the Cruciatus Curse. Hermione and Luna were very happy that Harry and Neville made a perfect potion. Dan and Emma were particularly interested in the potions as they didn't require any silly wand waving. Dan tried a drop of the Draught of Innocuousness on his tongue and it went complete numb. Dan and Emma though that the cherry flavoured potion would be great for children as it didn't need to be applied with a needle. Severus was happy to discuss various potions with Emma as Dan couldn't speak clearly and they exuberantly discussed potions for pain management, infections and the big one, instant fresh breath.

Seeing that this new Professor Snape was happily answering questions and discussing potions with her parents, made Hermione and Harry realised just how much the school had changed and Harry was very happy that he had saved the Professor from Azkaban. They didn't want to think what the old professor Snape would have done with all of her mother's questions.

Dobby and Winky supplied a picnic lunch on top of the Astronomy Tower which gave them a spectacular view of the castle and grounds, and they could see the Black Lake and the Forbidden Forest. They shared lunch with Severus as that was what he had asked Emma and Dan to call him and he was happy to continue discussing potions while he caught some rays.

Severus had gotten a little quiet and reflective when there was a break in the conversation and he took the opportunity to address some important issues between himself and Harry.

"Mr Potter." He started.

"Harry, please Sir, when we are not in class." Harry responded.

Severus smiled. "Thank you, but I need to discuss some important issues with you."

Harry nodded.

"First I need to thank you for speaking to the Minister on my behalf and saved me from going to Azkaban. I was a Death Eater.." Severus spoke slowly but Harry cut him off.

"Yes, you were a Death Eater but you were also the only one who has really made an effort to reform and redeem yourself. Particularly since the Yule Ball." Harry replied. "You have done so much to stamp out the bullying and hatred between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Even Draco is being civil to Hermione and me even though I am partly the reason why his father is missing. You couldn't continue to do that in Azkaban."

"Thank you." Severus whispered.

"And your warning about the headmaster before Umbridge happened on the Night of the Toad, gave us time to prepare, and you distracted and delayed him so he couldn't interfere." Hermione added.

"And you did that alone without being asked." Neville added. "My family was there too that night."

Luna continued. "That was one of the bravest things I have ever seen. The headmaster's head is full of Wrackspurts."

"So thank you Severus, and please keep up the good work." Harry finished.

Severus was stunned. "You truly are your mother's son."

"You knew her?"

"Yes, we, your mother and her sister, Petunia, grew up in the same village and we were friends which made Tunie so jealous and even more so when I told Lily that she was a witch and then Tunie really hated it when I told her that she was a squib."

"Squib?" Emma asked.

"A squib is a witch with a very weak magical core." Severus explained. "It is a growing issue with the inbreeding of Pure-bloods and the lucky squibs are cast out."

"Cast out?" An annoyed Emma asked as Severus nodded.

"At least they lived."

"Oh?"

"If they were lucky in a couple of generations they had powerful magical children like your mother." Severus paused for a moment as he remembered the good times, but he needed to deal with other issues. "Your mother was so full of life and I could tell you so many stories, but at another time. I need to apologise for the way I have treated you."

The group was silent as they waited for Severus to continue.

"I really didn't like your father from the moment I met him and it deteriorated after he was sorted into Gryffindor and I in Slytherin. We just seemed to bring out the worst in each other." Severus stated. "That was my problem and I took it out on you. I am sorry."

"But you also saved my life back in first year when Quirrellmort tried to kill me by cursing my broom." Harry replied to a surprised Severus.

"Quirrellmort?"

"Yeah, Voldemort had attached his wraith form to the back of Quirrell's head." Harry explained.

"Oh? The headmaster hadn't shared the secret of how the dark lord had entered the castle." Severus said slowly with a hint of annoyance towards the headmaster and his secrets. "He was here all year?"

"Yes. Quirrellmort had broken into Gringotts to steal the Philosopher's Stone at the beginning of the year and then followed the stone to Hogwarts." Hermione added.

"Oh, damn!" Severus said slowly. "So the dark lord was on the back of Quirrell's head when I interfered in his attempt to kill you?"

"Yes."

"Oh? Er. You wouldn't happen to know how my robes caught fire, would you?"

"Sorry, sir. I didn't see anyone as I was trying to hold on to my broom." Harry answered carefully while Hermione coughed and looked anywhere but at the Professor.

Harry continued quickly to change the subject. "Well, anyway, Quirrellmort told me about how you countered his curse during the broom incident. I was surprised to find Quirrellmort in the last chamber when we were so sure that it was you who had gone after the Philosopher's Stone at the end of first year."

"Oh?"

"So I am sorry too. Could we be friends now?" Harry asked.

"Thank you, I would like that but it may take me a long time to get over my issues with your father." Harry nodded as Severus took a deep breath. "Sadly, I have one more very important issue to deal with."

They waited for him to continue.

"Has the headmaster told you why the dark lord targeted your family and tried to kill you?" Severus questioned quietly.

"No, I asked him after the Quirrellmort incident but he said I was too young and should enjoy my childhood." Harry snorted in disdain at his childhood in Durzkaban.

"Yes, well the headmaster likes to keep his secrets." Severus replied bitterly.

"Sounds like this headmaster likes to control the information so he can control and manipulate the situation and people." Emma scoffed. "In our world, that is what the far left Marxist radicals and Postmodernist are doing by controlling Political Correctness all under the claim of compassion and not offending anyone, and use their ideology to determine what words cause offence and which made-up words shall not offend you. Once they control our language and even the very words that they demand that we must use, we lose the ability to communicate freely. Anyone that says something they don't like is targeted by their trolls. Our conservative politicians are too afraid to speak out. While the far left are free do even more outlandish things to justify their existence and take great offence if anyone says no."

Severus looked at Emma. "Very astute of you, Emma! It is sad that both sides use the same fear tactics and made-up words; _He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named_ and _You-Know-Who_ and _the Greater Good_ and even _Lord Voldemort_."

" _Voldemort_?" Emma wondered. "You know that means; _flee from death_ , in French?"

"Does it really?" Severus wondered. "The dark lord is not known to have a sense of humour."

"He was very upset with me last time we met." Harry chuckled darkly.

Severus chuckled darkly and added. "What chance do the sheeple have who are caught in the middle?"

Emma replied. "Well what makes you think that they were ever given a chance? It is a sad fact of life that someone always wants the power to control others and spend our taxes on themselves, their ideology, and their friends."

"Quite." Severus agreed as he had seen Dumbledore and Lucius do that for years with the corrupt Ministry. "But, sadly, I am also caught up in the reason why the dark lord targeted your family and you."

"Oh?"

They waited as Severus took a deep breath.

"You see there is a prophecy that was given to the headmaster before you were born. The prophecy herald a hero's birth, someone who had the power to vanquish the dark lord being born as the seventh month dies to parents who have defied him thrice." Severus paused and then continued. "I only overheard the first part before I was discovered and thrown out. I didn't hear the whole prophecy nor did I know who it would apply to as they were not yet born, but I took what I had heard and." He paused to gather his nerves. "And I reported it to the dark lord."

He paused again to see their reaction and they were quietly watching him with concerned eyes.

"Sadly, it transpired that there were two possible boys, you and Neville. The dark lord chose you." Severus whispered as he hung his head in shame. "I am so sorry."

Dan and Emma looked at each other as the children didn't know how to react. They knew the children had had an eventful history with Severus but they only just met the man today and so far he had been very helpful and so they knew there was a lot more to this plus they were more concerned about their experience so far with the devious headmaster.

"The headmaster was involved?" Dan asked carefully.

"Yes, he was interviewing Professor Trelawney, she became the new Divination teacher, at the Hog's Head Inn. It is a disreputable pub owned by the headmaster's younger brother, Aberforth." Severus answered slowly. "Professor Trelawney was the one who gave the prophecy."

"Oh? He didn't hold the interview in his office?" Emma asked. "I thought there was a civil war going on at that time."

"Yes, practically almost." Severus said sadly. "The headmaster was losing quite badly and it was odd to go to the Hog's Head Inn as his brother hates him."

"Oh? So he would be desperate enough to want a prophecy about a hero who would save them from this dark lord being overheard?" Dan reasoned as he could speak after the effects of the potion had faded. "Particularly a prophecy that would justify the headmaster for not facing this Voldemort directly himself?"

"Er?" Severus said as he forgot to flinch at the name while he had never really thought about the timing of the prophecy or what it could mean for the headmaster. "You doubt the prophecy?"

"Severus, the headmaster was losing the war and didn't have any time for the hero to be born and grow strong enough to defeat this monster before the monster had destroyed everything." Dan replied. "You needed the hero then and there."

"Oh?"

"And it was what my mother did that stopped Voldemort." Harry added as he began to doubt.

"Oh? But, she was born at the end of January?" Severus wondered out loud.

"What would have happened if this Voldemort hadn't been stopped at that time?" Emma asked.

Severus mind raced at all the disastrous possibilities and concluded. "If Dumbledore didn't act to stop the dark lord, everyone would be dead including me."

"So the hero was needed then and there, and would have no time to grow strong." Dan repeated. "And this prophecy focused this Voldemort's attention on the Potters."

"Oh?"

"How did you only hear the first part?" Hermione asked as she could see where her parents were going.

"Well, Aberforth caught me listening outside their door and dragged me into the room and interrupted them. I trying to make an excuse and was waffling about having come the wrong way up the stairs as I was there to see the headmaster about the Potions position." Severus answered and then wondered how he could have come the wrong way up the stairs when there was only one way.

"The headmaster had arranged to see you at the Hog's Head?" Dan asked and Severus nodded. "And he knew you were a Death Eater?"

Severus nodded and replied, "A poor half-blood Slytherin didn't have much of a career choice and most of my friends became known Death Eaters before they had left Hogwarts. Aberforth had held up my left arm for all to see as he knew who I associated with in his pub."

"And the headmaster just let you go after he was made aware that you had been eavesdropping?" Emma asked and Severus nodded.

"Without obliviating you of the information of the prophecy?" Harry asked as he remembered what Lockhart had tried to do. "What was the headmaster expecting you to do?"

Severus nodded as he slowly realised. "Damn! He used me to make sure the dark lord heard enough of the prophecy to force him to act."

They were stunned into silence as they realised what the despicable headmaster was capable of while the poor Potions Master reacted badly.

"Damn, Damn!" Severus continued to curse as he remembered that cold, dark, forlorn hilltop meeting with Dumbledore with the bitter wind whistling. "He even had the nerve to ask me how much of the prophecy I had told the dark lord when I came to warn him! He knew I had to tell the dark lord everything and he had the audacity to be disgusted in me when he had setup the whole incident!"

"Powerful Machiavellian men like Dumbledore always use disinformation, fear and half-truths to manipulate others to do their bidding. Particularly if they claim to be doing it for some undefined Greater Good." Emma explained to ease Severus' disgust and pain of being used so despicably. "But what you are doing now, you are doing for the right reasons and you have already saved our lives when you gave us that warning and distracted the headmaster."

Severus gave a half hearted snort of disgust. "I had tried to warn the headmaster in an attempt to save your family and he, somehow, managed to get them to leave the safety of Potter Manor and hid you and your parents in his old family home in Godric's Hollow. I even tried to bargain with the dark lord, but.." His voice failed him.

"Did the headmaster know that Peter Pettigrew was a Death Eater before this happened?" Hermione asked to answer a question she had since the night they had saved Sirius.

"What? Er Yes, I told him all the names of all the Death Eaters I knew as part of the information I gave him when I had warn him about the threat to Lily. He already knew most of the Death Eaters before they left Hogwarts including Pettigrew and he became the dark lord's spy in his Order of the Phoenix. I don't know how the headmaster could give him a second chance but it got a lot of good people murdered." Severus answered as he thought. "Black really wasn't their Secret-Keeper was he?"

Harry shook his head. "No, Sirius was a decoy as he said that he was too obvious to be the Secret-Keeper, and they wanted to prank Voldemort so they used their other friend, Wormtail, to be the Secret-Keeper."

"Damn!" Severus cursed. "The headmaster kept his secrets to give Wormtail a second chance and it got your parents murdered. I am so sorry Harry."

Hermione hugged Harry as Neville and Luna joined in and Harry remembered the other prophecy. "Trelawney gave a second prophecy to me, it was at the end of the Divination examination in third year."

Harry chuckled as he remembered. "The examination was to see the future in her large crystal ball. All I saw was a swirling white fog and she was so disappointed so I made something up. I said I saw a shape like a Hippogriff and she was expecting me to see Buckbeak's brutal execution which really annoyed me, so I said the Hippogriff kept his head and flew away."

"Indeed, Mr Potter?" Severus questioned slowly as he remembered the events on the night that Sirius and the Hippogriff escaped. "Did you, by any chance, any chance at all, happen to play a part in fulfilling your own prophecy?"

Harry suddenly remembered who else was there that night and froze as Hermione answered. "How could we sir? We were locked in the Hospital ward by the headmaster."

"Smooth. Very smooth." Severus said as he remembered that he was trying to get Harry's forgiveness and whatever action they had done had saved two innocent lives that night. And that was a lot better than what he had managed to do.

Harry continued to move things on. "Anyway, Trelawney's second prophecy was about the servant of the dark lord who had been chained twelve years, would break free that night and rejoin his master. Then he will help his master rise again to be greater and more terrible than ever he was!"

Severus paled.

"At the time I thought it applied to Sirius Black but it really applied to Peter Pettigrew." Harry continued.

"Wormtail really is still alive?" Severus asked as Harry and Hermione nodded.

"Yeah, Wormtail is caring for Babymort at the moment with another Death Eater." Harry explained as Severus gave him a questioning eye. "I have a nightmare over summer."

"Babymort?" Severus asked.

"Yeah, he is possessing a young child at the moment." Harry explained.

"And the other Death Eater?"

"I don't know his name but Babymort called him his most faithful servant. He was about your age or younger, brown hair and a wild-eye sneer." Harry remembered the nightmare.

"Barty Crouch junior?" Severus wondered as he was the only one that was so keen to serve the dark lord to spite his father. "But he is dead."

"So was Pettigrew, but he is an Animagus and had been hiding for twelve years as a rat for Percy Weasley and then for Ronald." Hermione explained as Neville paled as he remembered Ronald's disgusting rat in their dorm and the way it would look at them.

"Did you inform the headmaster of this other prophecy?" Severus asked.

Harry's mind went blank as he tried to remember.

"Damn!" Severus cursed. "A sure sign that you have been obliviated. Your mind is trying to find that memory but it is gone."

Hermione hugged Harry while Emma asked the obvious question.

"What game is the headmaster playing?"

Severus just shook his head and whispered. "I don't know."

As they paused in silence and wonder what was really happening around them and asked themselves the obvious unasked question. Who was the real dark lord?

Harry summons his courage as he spoke next.

"They say Hogwarts is the safest place after Gringotts, but I have faced Voldemort twice inside the castle under the headmaster's nose and now, he is using me for bait in this Tri-Wizard Tournament. I am beginning to think he has his own agenda concerning me and I don't think it has a happy ever after for me." Harry stated as he thought about the headmaster's protection while Severus slowly raised his head.

"But you have already tried to save me twice. Once against Quirrellmort and once against the Toad and Dumbledore." Harry looked at Severus in the eye. "So, I forgive you and my mum and dad would forgive you too."

"Thank you." Severus whispered slowly and softly with a tear forming in his eye as Harry hugged him. Then Hermione and Luna joined in.

While Neville reasoned it out in his mind. Severus actions had led Voldemort and his Death Eaters to target his family but Severus had tried to redeem himself, he had advanced Luna, his Potions classes were ten times better, and his warning had also saved his family on the Night of the Toad and gave his Grandmother and his parents a chance to regain their old swashbuckling selves and make a big difference. If Harry could forgive Severus, so could he.

So he did.

"Severus, I forgive you too." The brave Gryffindor said slowly as he joined the group hug.

Severus could only whisper as he looked Neville in the eye. "Thank you, Neville."

"You're welcome but you still have to face my Grandmother and make peace with my parents!" Neville replied as Severus swallowed drily and slowly nodded. He was not looking forward to facing Augusta Longbottom or Alice for that matter. "Your warning had also saved my family on the Night of the Toad and putting down those despicable Death Eaters was just the confidence boost they needed and gave them back their self-esteem. You gave my Grandmother and my parents a chance to make a big difference. So thank you."

Severus nodded a thank you as he felt a lot better about facing the old battle-axe and Alice if his warning had really helped them that much.

After the moment had passed Emma spoke. "That was very brave of you to reveal those secrets and now the headmaster can't use them against you."

"But I still have a long way to go to repair the damage Dumbledore has done with this useless rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor to divide and conquer." Severus said.

"Just like all other despots, but you are also helping to break down this bigotry between Pure-bloods and the Muggle world." Emma said. "We have a lot that can help each other."

Dan summed up the situation as he said. "If these potions prove to be as useful as we hope, I can see this could be the start of a beautiful friendship."

"Yes." Emma agreed as she turned to Severus. "And if you are really nice I may introduce you to my twin sister."

"Oh, you mean that there really are two of you?" Severus asked.

"Yes." Hermione answered. "Aunty is off in Africa saving the world."

"Oh?"

"Yes, I married the quiet cute one." Dan said with a smile.

Anastasia chuckled at the joke but she kept her thoughts to herself about what the headmaster knew and when as she started her own investigation into the actions of the Leader of the Light that led up to the attack on the Potters and the disappearance of Voldemort.

Meanwhile the disappointed frustrated headmaster was waiting for them to arrive for lunch in the Great Hall.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Sadly not everyone was seeking redemption and Arthur received an urgent message to go to Gringotts. Molly had gone there to get some gold out but unfortunately she had brought the wrong key and tried to access the wrong vault. Arthur had managed to get Molly out with just a warning to be more careful while the Goblins kept the key so they could return it to its rightful owner. Also they had detected the potions in her and didn't want to poison their dragons by feeding her to them. The very last thing they needed was have their dragons go postal while hyped up on Amortentia.

Arthur took his wife directly to St Mungo's to have a mind healer check her out. Sadly they found that Molly was suffering from the long term effect of brewing Amortentia in a confined space that is her kitchen cupboard, and had breathed the fumes of pure Amortentia which had bound the potion to herself and resulted in a pathological case of extreme narcissistic personality disorder.

Sadly Arthur couldn't afford a long term care in St Mungo's, so he opted to have Molly medically obliviated of the last twelve years back to just after Ginny was born to remove the worst of her excessive motherly behaviour. He cleaned out all the potion ingredients from the Burrow and quickly brought her up to date as they both took the antidote to Amortentia.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

In the afternoon Harry's family went outside of the castle and walked down toward the Quidditch Pitch where they met up with the three champions and Harry introduced Dan and Emma to them and their families. The champions were showing them their final preparations for the last task. While Cedric's father, Amos, was making a nuisance of himself by telling everyone how his boy was going to win. Emma respectfully disagreed and said they all needed to work together to survive. Then she started to ask Amos questions and Amos suddenly saw some old friends that he needed to talk to and left them alone for the rest of the afternoon. Cedric thanked her as he loved his Dad but he could see that his biggest fan was getting on everyone's nerves.

The champions had been working together in secret with Padfoo and Moony to devise the best strategy to survive the Tournament. Fleur, Cedric and Viktor decided to take a break and go flying with Harry's family and enjoy the warm afternoon.

Harry took Emma for a ride on his Firebolt broom, while Fleur, Viktor, and Cedric wanted an excuse to try out the new school brooms. So they with Hermione, Neville and Anastasia used six of the new school brooms, the new Nimbus 2002X model with variable performance levels, autopilot, ground proximity warning system (GPWS), airborne collision avoidance system (ACAS, usually pronounced as ay-kas), and super strong impact air bag charms as standard features.

Fleur doubled her sister, Gabrielle, Cedric doubled Cho, Viktor doubled his two beautiful witches from Beauxbatons, Hermione doubled her dad and Neville doubled Luna while Anastasia doubled Colin so he could take photos as they followed Harry at a safe distance as he flew Emma around the castle grounds and over the Forbidden Forest except for the Quidditch pitch where the maze was. Cedric, Fleur and Viktor were surprised at the performance of the new brooms as they pushed them to their limits as they tried to keep up with Harry.

Hermione's mother loved it and wanted to go again only faster while her father kneel down and kissed the ground after his ride with Hermione. (Dan was more afraid of heights than his daughter.) While a refreshed Cedric, Fleur and Viktor returned to their preparations with a strong desire to convince their parents to get them the new broom as a bonus for surviving the Tournament.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Harry's family went to see Hagrid and he showed them the herd of Hippogriffs and Collin took a beautiful photo of Harry and Hermione flying on the back of a new Hippogriff called _Buckwheat_ , as the proud magical creature refused to answer to Witherwings, (quite a silly name,) and Collin took another photo of Harry and Emma flying while Dan was happy to watch.

As Harry had been flying all afternoon and was a little tired and Dan was happy to keep both feet on the ground. So Harry thought it would be nice for Neville to take Luna for a ride on Buckwheat, and he hopped off the Hippogriff to help Emma down, but Emma was very keen to go again, so she hit him with the sad puppy eyes. Even Buckwheat wanted to go again and copied the same sad puppy eyes. Harry almost caved but he was saved by a giggle from Luna as she took Anastasia and Hermione's hands and the three of them climbed up on the Hippogriff behind Emma. With a big smile, they held on tight as Buckwheat reared up on his hind legs and charge off into the sky as Emma cried.

"Hi Ho Silver! Away!"

And they could hear the William Tell overture played by the Castle in the background. Then Chariots of Fire as the Hippogriff skimmed across the water. Followed by a haunting Ride of the Valkyries as they flew up into the mountains.

Hagrid put Colin on a young Hippogriff called Hothoof, and he flew off to take some brilliant photos of Buckwheat as he took his favourite girls on the ride of their lives. They could hear Hermione and Emma squeal all the way on the far side of the Black Lake as Buckwheat effortlessly skimmed across the surface of the lake with one hind leg just touching the water as Luna stood up behind Anastasia on Buckwheat's rump in her bare feet, lent forward with her arms stretched out and her robe billowing with her blonde hair streaming back in the breeze as she surf the Hippogriff. Anastasia thought it was wonderful to have such cool friends and stood up in front of Luna as Luna held her arms out to steady her as she screamed.

"Woo Hoo! I'm Queen of the World!"

Then Emma, Hermione and Luna joined in with Anastasia and screamed. "Woo Hoo! We are Queens of the World. Hear us roar!"

From Hothoof, Colin was able to capture the whole moment.

Then they sat down quickly as Buckwheat with a few beats of his powerful wings they flew up to the mountain tops that surround Hogwarts where the last bits of snow was. They were gone for almost an hour but when they returned the smile on Emma, Hermione, Luna and Anastasia's faces was priceless.

While Dan, Harry and Neville waited, Hagrid's took them to feed the Thestrals as Harry could see them now after the Dementors' attacks the previous year had made him relive his mother's murder, and Dan had witnessed death during his residency, while Neville had witnessed the death of his favourite toad when Ronald sat down in a chair without bothering to look. They found feeding the Thestrals calming though a bit spooky.

Fortunately and rather ominously there were no Blast-Ended Skrewts to be seen.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Hagrid took them all into his hut for afternoon tea and to warm the girls up by the fire. The children politely refused to take one of Hagrid's weapons grade fighting rock cakes and thankfully Dan and Emma followed their lead as Hagrid gave one to Fang and they watched as the poor dog tried to eat it. The unfortunate oversized boarhound sounded like he was eating concrete. But the tea was hot and Hermione had got very good at conjuring up a fine English Tea set for them to use as all of Hagrid's cups were way too big. Dobby and Winky popped in with plates of delicious cakes and sandwiches.

After they had eaten and warmed themselves, Hagrid proudly showed them what he had obtained from a friend for his Care of Magical Creatures class.

It was an egg.

Near the fire.

And it was bigger than the last one.

A lot bigger!

The shell of the over-sized egg had an iridescent shimmer with cloud-like patterns with the colours shifting from various shades of gold to electrifying blue, to grey and silver, to white, and even to deep navy.

Dan, Emma, Luna, Anastasia and Colin looked at the beautiful egg in wonder while a concerned Neville, Harry and Hermione looked at Hagrid, but he was oblivious to their anxiety as he explained and pointed.

"Newt, an old friend of mine sent it to me as part of my new conservation project that the headmaster has finally approved. That there is the egg of a North American Thunderbird."

Then as if Hagrid had just announced its arrival.

The beautiful egg shell cracked.

And then cracked some more as it opened up to reveal a beautiful large bird having a head like a Hippogriff with three pairs of powerful wings, and the feathers that shimmer and change patterns with the same iridescent colours of the egg shell.

"Aw."

They all said together as Hagrid placed his hand in front of the bird and it hopped onto his large fingers. He lifted it up and they could see the length of his tail as he spread out his six wings to balance, and Hagrid saw he was a boy. He wanted to make sure this time before he gave him a name.

"I shall name you, James." Hagrid said proudly. "After Harry's father, he was a very good friend of mine." And he turned to look at Harry. "If that is okay with you?"

Harry smiled as Hermione hugged him. "I think that is brilliant, Hagrid." And he looked at the beautiful Thunderbird. "Hello, James."

James, the Thunderbird, bowed to Harry who bowed in return to show respect and honour. It just seemed right and he knew his father would have loved to be a Thunderbird.

"Oh, James has accepted his name." Hagrid said excitedly as everyone greeted James, the Thunderbird and he bowed to each one in turn as they bowed or curtseyed to show honour and respect. Then Hedwig flew in to greet the newest member of Harry's growing circle of friends and landed on her Harry's shoulder as James hopped onto Hagrid's shoulder, and they could see that the newborn James was already bigger than Hedwig. Only Luna had an idea of how big James would grow while Colin took some brilliant photos of the whole event for a new article for the Quibbler.

Then James started to sing a hauntingly beautiful melody that raised everyone's spirits just like a phoenix which they are related to.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Hagrid gave the pieces of the iridescent coloured eggshell to Emma, Hermione, Luna and Anastasia so they could make them into beautiful magical necklaces, bracelets and brooches, as they left to return to the castle.

Anastasia checked the Marauder's Map to find the headmaster pacing in his office so Hermione suggested that they go and relax in the Prefects' Bathroom to freshen up before evening feast in the Great Hall as the map showed that it was empty and Hermione remembered the password. They were later joined by the other champions and their families.

The bathroom was softly lit by a splendid candle-filled chandelier and there was a single golden-framed stained glass painting on the wall. It featured a blonde mermaid who was happily waving to them. Emma loved the white marble bathroom with the rectangular swimming pool and Moaning Myrtle came to join in the fun and explain what all those golden taps were for that stood all around the edge of the pool, each with a differently coloured jewel set into its handle. Emma couldn't resist trying all the taps as they carried different sorts of bubble bath to mix with the water. One tap gushed pink and blue bubbles the size of footballs; another poured ice-white foam so thick that Emma thought it would have supported her weight if she'd cared to test it; (And she did!), a third sent heavily perfumed purple clouds hovering over the surface of the water.

Emma, Hermione, Luna and Anastasia with Fleur, Gabrielle and Chou, loved the last golden tap which was in an odd position as it didn't reach over the pool but was mounted on the wall about five feet above the floor. Moaning Myrtle wasn't sure but Luna worked it out first as she sat cross-legged under the tap and a great big pink bubble came out and poured over her as it grew bigger and bigger until it was large and buoyant enough to float in the air with Luna inside. All the girls had a great time floating around the bathroom in their very own giant floating pink bubble as they waved their arms to control the direction they floated. Until the boys discovered that they could push the giant floating pink bubbles around like jumbo beach balls and send them spiralling around the bathroom with a giggling girl inside. Then girls found that they could float a little higher and out the reach of the boys with a little help from Winky.

Dan, Harry, Neville and Colin with Cedric and Viktor, loved the diving board and lying on the long fluffy white towels as Dobby and Winky gave them a relaxing massage. Well Winky may have shown her disapproval of the way the boys had pushed around her girls' giant floating pink bubbles by putting her hands in very cold water before massaging their backs a little too rigorously but for some reason Viktor asked her to try harder.

Soon it was time to dress for the feast in the Great Hall in honour of the Third Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Kreacher had been busy washing, cleaning and pressing their finest dress robes, so Harry's family could make a spectacular entrance into the Great Hall that was worthy of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter and Black.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

 _Thank you for reading._


	11. The Feast in honour of the Third Task

Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again.

Chapter 11. The Feast in honour of the Third Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament with Hiatus of Toad.

02/01/19 Beta by alix33 and Thunderbird Member 008. Thank you.

I don't own the Harry Potter verse. Just playing.

Thank you for all your kind reviews.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Slowly, the Magic of the Night continued to fight back against the evil of the Greater Good and the desperate attempts of the Minister of Magic to be seen as doing something and keeping up appearances with his Toad.

But will the hope that appeared when Harry and Fleur had combined their resources to survive the second task, be enough to save the lives of their love ones who had been put in harm's way in the Great Hall of Hogwarts by the dastardly schemes of the manipulative devious headmaster.

What could possibly go wrong?

But the Magic of the Night would never give up!

Never surrender!

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, proudly sat on his golden throne at the center of the enlarged head table at the front of the Great Hall, and waited patiently as all the students, staff and dignitaries arrived and take their places. After the unauthorised family of the boy had successfully avoided him all day, he had prepared a special surprise for the Muggles who dared to interfere in his plans to control the boy for the Greater Good.

Sadly, the headmaster had sorely missed his Elder Wand as his old original Ollivander wand made of ebony wood with a core of the heart string of an aurochs, just didn't seem to have the power to make all his attempts to regain control over his staff, stick. As soon as the staff heard the music that the Castle played or saw the giant photos of that cursed Yule Ball, they remembered and their love for the boy and his Mu.. Mate, would burn out the compulsions curses and loyalty hexes he had surreptitiously placed on them, and then that Vengeful Kitty would appear. The headmaster had tried to remove the giant photos and stop the music but his old wand just got very hot and started to smoke before he collapsed totally exhausted.

So he had spent the afternoon convincing the Minister to bring his pit bull er, Undersecretary, to the feast as the Minister owed him that favour. After all that was why he had supported the Minister in gaining forgiveness for Umbridge and getting her released from Azkaban. Like Tom and the boy, Dolores had a part to play in his schemes for the Greater Good, even if it was only to play the bad guy or bad witch in her case. Someone had to do it and Umbridge excelled at being nasty.

The headmaster smirked as he imagined how the vicious Undersecretary would react to discover filthy Muggles in the Great Hall of Hogwarts and that accursed Vengeful Kitty would not be able save them in a hall full of students. Oh, how the boy would beg him to save the Muggles but he would sadly shake his head and say that he was afraid that his hands were tied. Particularly if the Minister of Magic was harmed in any way.

The Muggles and their daughter would be thrown into Azkaban if they lived, and the boy would be broken before he set one foot into the maze tonight.

The headmaster smiled as he saw the boy and his entourage enter the Great Hall. Their grand robes would not save them tonight as he had placed compulsions on the Gryffindor table to leave a clear space in the middle so that the boy would be forced to be seated in the center of the hall right next to his redhead minion so the idiot could make a fuss and ensure everyone would know that there were Muggles at Hogwarts.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Meanwhile, to cap off a perfect day Dan, Emma, Harry, Hermione, Neville, Luna, Collin and Anastasia met up with Neville's parents and Grandmother before they made their grand entrance into the Great Hall for the feast to celebrate the Third Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Augusta, being a School Governor, went to sit with Madam Bones, Professor McGonagall and headmistress madame Olympe Maxime at the head table while Frank and Alice sat with the Neville and Luna on the opposite side of the Gryffindor table to Dan and Emma with Harry, Hermione, Anastasia and Collin. They would have preferred to sit on the end closest to the doors but the only space free was in the middle of the Gryffindor table right near their former friend and in the center of the Great Hall. But there was an air of excitement at the feast as everyone wondered who would win the final task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

It had been a perfect day until they sat down in the only clear spot, and unfortunately far too close to a certain redhead bigot who made Hermione's parents feel unwelcome by loudly voicing his negative attitude towards all things Muggle, much to the embarrassment of his long-suffering girlfriend, Lavender Brown. Thankfully they witnessed a brilliant display of creative magic from the Three Fairy Godsisters who silenced the moRonald as he lost his loud annoying mouth again and got some big elephant ears to go with his long elephant trunk nose.

When Emma found out that this was the moRonald-Who-Had-Made-Her-Daughter-Cry, she tied a knot in his trunk. Madam Pomfrey was quite impressed with Emma's ability as she used her surgeon's skill to tie a constrictor knot in his trunk while Dan made sure the ligatures remain tight and locked. While the headmaster smirked as his stooge made sure that everyone was aware that a Pure-blood had been attacked by Muggles in the Great Hall.

Boom, boom, thud!

Boom, boom, thud!

Then they recognised that song as the Castle used a gold ribbon to form the words of Queen's song; We are the Champions, as everyone joined in the singalong and pointed at moRonald when they sung the words _'no time for losers'_. While a certain Vengeful Kitty and friends pointed at the other Manipulative Old Fool. (Thanks SC) Emma loved the Karaoke while the Slytherins were pleased that no one was pointing at them.

The certain redhead moRonald spent the rest of the night trying to get the headmaster to undo the knot in his trunk, but he was too distracted with his scheming for the third task to help while he waited for the main event.

Soon it was showtime.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Then a little while later the Minister of Magic arrived fashionably late with his entourage for the feast in the Great Hall. The Deputy Headmistress was not happy to have the Toad present within the castle even if she had been medically obliviated of her recent Death Eater attack on the Grangers. But the headmaster insisted that his hands were tied. But the Vengeful Kitty had been forewarned and knew otherwise, as his sinister smirk suggested another motive. The Vengeful Kitty hoped he was not planning a rematch between the Grangers and the Toad in front of the Minister where the headmaster would have to step in and save the day and the boy and unfortunately expel all Grangers.

Duunnn dunnn...

Dan thought he heard a sinister _Duunnn dunnn_ as the Great Hall had grown slowly silent with the arrival of the Minister's entourage.

Duunnn dunnn…

Dan definitely heard that _Duunnn dunnn_ , just like the heartbeat of a circling predatory monster, and he turned to Emma who gave him a concerned looked back. They could recognise that movie theme anywhere.

Duuunnnnnnnn dun...

Dan and Emma looked to Hermione and Harry next to them and Dan could see over their heads and to the entrance doors as he saw a green bowler hat making its way towards the head table and would pass right beside them.

Dun dun Dun dun...

"The Minister!" Hermione hissed as she put her hand on Harry shoulder to try and raised her eyes a little higher. She knew the Minister was short but the thing following him was shorter but wider and in horrible pink. "Damn! The Toad!"

Dun dun Dun dun…

Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna scanned the head table to see the look of concern on Professors McGonagall, Flitwick and Snape as well as Madams Bones and Longbottom while the headmaster couldn't hide his smirk. They knew of the Toad's release and medical obliviations but they were still shocked but not really surprised to see the Toad at the Great Hall given the headmaster's inclination to give undeserved second chances while Frank and Alice with Anastasia took out their wands in case it all went to hell and they may have to put the Toad down for good. Anastasia's Auror status would screw up any plans the Toad had or the headmaster for that matter so long as she only stunned them. While the popularity of Frank and Alice virtually gave them a licence to exterminate toads with extreme prejudice.

Dun dun Dun dun…

The Great Hall had become eerily silent as the Castle played a certain sinister background theme that was recognised by many Muggle-borns, while Minister led his entourage and noticed the Grangers in the middle of the Great Hall. He knew it was too late to back up and go another route to the head table. Then he noticed the Longbottoms sitting on the other side of the table watching his Undersecretary very closely and he cursed as he looked at the smirk on the headmaster's face. He just knew that this was not going to end well. He desperately tried to point to the brilliant display on the ceiling of the Great Hall of a beautiful girl swimming in the sea in the moonlight in an attempt to distract his Undersecretary from noticing the Muggle family in their path.

Dun dun Dun dun.

As the Minister and the annoyed distracted Toad tried to regally walk pass Hermione's parents with her nose pointed up, Luna noticed that the Toad was suffering from a severe infestation of constipated Wrackspurts that were so thick that they were circling the her head, and she wondered how effective the medical obliviations on the Toad had been and more importantly, Luna wondered if there were some remaining deep-seated memories of extreme fears or utter terrors. The kind helpful little witch just knew that the Undersecretary would want to know if her medical obliviations were defective. But how could she help her when only she and her father could see the Wrackspurts.

Dun dun Dun dun…

The kind helpful little witch thought hard and quickly, when she had a brilliant beyond brilliant idea. Cheerfully, Luna impishly smiled as she quietly whispered the sound of a charging rampaging Easter Island Moai.

"Hup hup hup hup hup!"

" _ **NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"**_

"Oops!"

(The Castle rose to the occasion and played Yakety Sax.)

 **WHOooooffff!**

 **THUD!** _SPLAT!_

" _ **NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"**_

 _THUD!_

 _THUD!_

 _THUD!_

 _THUD!_

 _THUD!_

 _THUD!_

KREEEN! **WUMPTH!**

" **NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!** **ERK!** IIIIEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeee!"

 _Thud!_

 _ **SPLAT!**_

 **Whup!**

 _Skip! Skip! Skip!_

 **Thud!**

Groan!

The reaction had been instantaneous as the quiet words from the kind helpful little witch had triggered a deep memory, and the panic-stricken Toad loudly **shrieked** and **farted** as she soiled herself in her blind panic attempt to escape the overwhelming terrifying fear of that horrible ghostly white thing she vaguely remembers, and she moved faster than a two year old hyped up on sugar. First she blindly hopped forward as the Castle rose to the occasion and played Yakety Sax. Befuddledly she **bowled** the Minister over and he **landed** on top of all the food that moRonald had stockpiled, while the silent Great Hall erupted in laughter. Then the Toad **shrieked** again as she realised she was going the wrong way and wildly turned around as she madly hopped back towards the entrance of the Great Hall loudly shrieking all the way as she **scattered** **and flattened** the rest of the Minister's entourage like bowling pins in her sudden desperate need to escape and completely forgot that she was supposed to be a witch or her emergency Portkey.

The terrified Toad blundered her way out through the **heavy doors** of the Great Hall as the laughter rose up and turned into a roar. When the **shrieking** Toad reached the Grand Staircase, the Castle turned the steps into a water slide with banked turns and **flushed** the slimy creature out of the castle through an open window that appeared in the stone wall three hundred feet above the Black Lake. Unfortunately, her trajectory was a little low due to the drag of her wet billowing pink robe and she **bounced** off the top edge of the cliff and **belly flopped** hard in the Black Lake below where the Giant Squid **whacked** her pink rump with a tentacle and sent her **skipping** across the water and she **smashed** onto the rocks beneath the cliff that the castle stood on. Where a certain pompous redhead Ministry official would find her fifteen minutes later and use his Emergency Portkey to take her to St Mungo's where she would be patched up, medically obliviated and returned to Hogwarts just in time for the start of the Third Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

We know all this because Collin Creevey, who wants to be an ace intrepid Photo Journalist for the Quibbler when he grew up, rose to the challenge and with the help of Dobby, he had taken photos of the whole event. Collin had followed the shrieking Toad out of the Great Hall, and was so determined to get the perfect photo that he even surfed down the water slide on the Grand Staircase and out through the window where Dobby caught him and popped him to the cliff top near the dark brown mark that the Toad had made and he was able to photograph the Toad hitting the water, the rescue by the Giant Squid and he was even able to tell the pompous redhead official where to look for his superior. The article was published in the Quibbler under the heading; _When Animagus attempts go wrong._ Subtitled; _When Toads impersonate Ministry Officials._ The Quibbler article was very popular among the staff and inmates of Azkaban as they all knew Umbridge very well, and the magical moving photos of the _Flight of the Toad_ , brought them a lot of joy which kept the Dementors happy. So it was a win-win for all except for a certain Toad.

Once everyone had discovered that the Grand Staircase could transform into a giant water slide much like the staircase to the Girls' dormitory, they all wanted a go. Particularly Emma, Luna and Anastasia.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Meanwhile in the uproar chaos of the Great Hall, they could hear the shrieks of the Toad echoing down the corridor and the shrieks change as she slid down the water slide on the Grand Staircase and out of the castle. Neville, Frank and Alice hugged the brilliant little witch with the impish smile as Hermione and Emma came over to join in, while Dan, Harry and Anastasia watched the Ministry Officials for any negative reaction, particularly the young pompous redhead official who had landed in a large bowl of hot chilli beans and spinach, in case he did something stupid before he went to look for the Toad.

While a befuddled food covered Minister, and a foiled bewildered headmaster wondered what had just happened while everyone else roared laughing at the surprise comical antics of the hated Toad as she moved in time with the funny music the Castle played that even included a part from the headmaster's theme.

The Vengeful Kitty with Madams Bones, Longbottom and Maxime had watched the situation develop and had their wands out ready to curse the Toad as she approached the Grangers. Then the Toad shrieked and ran in a blind panic. The music set them off and they had tears in their eyed as they snorted in laughter while they had a good idea what had just happened to the Toad as they saw Luna being hugged and they knew they had just discovered a new useful tool to use against the hate filled creature. While the headmaster's sad face showed how disappointed he was that they were not as forgiving as him.

While the Potions Master had realised how serious the situation could be when he saw how keenly the headmaster was watching as the Minister and the Toad walk towards the Grangers and he was not sure what he could do to stop the headmaster from drawing his wand and interfering but if it all went to hell he would do anything to save Lily's son again. Then he heard the Toad shriek in the center of the hall and out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw the impish smile of the young blonde witch as if she had done something which terrified the Toad and sent her shrieking in a blind panic. He checked the reaction of the disappointed headmaster and knew that Harry's friend had just brilliantly foiled another scheme of the Manipulative Old Fool.

Severus chuckled as he whispered to himself. "Serves you right you _**M**_ anipulative _**O**_ ld _**F**_ ool, for using Harry as bait to catch the dark lord these past four years."

Severus was so glad he had chosen the right side and could enjoy the moment as his chuckle grew. There was a lot to chuckle about with the pompous Minister of Magic covered in bouillabaisse and sticky toffee fudge while the terrified Toad screaming like a banshee as she ran from the hall in time with the music. The rest of the Minister entourage of pompous officials were covered whatever food the Toad had knocked them into.

It was the first time he had honestly genuinely laughed in the Great Hall.

And it felt good!

So good!

And the look of sad bewildered astonishment on the face of the headmaster?

Priceless!

"Oh, and fifty points to Luna Lovegood!"

"No! Make that one hundred points to Luna!"

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Minister of Magic, Cornelius J. Fudge's blood ran cold as he heard his Undersecretary shrieked and then his felt himself pushed hard into all this food a strange looking redhead student had stockpiled. As he rolled over covered in bouillabaisse and sticky toffee fudge he opened his eyes to find Alice Longbottom pointing her wand directly at his nose. Then he saw her smile as she had seen the Minister's desperate attempt to distract the Toad. She cleaned all the food off him with a wave of her wand, and banished it directly into the stomach of the strange looking student with red hair, big ears and a nose shaped like a big elephant trunk with a knot tied in it. Further along were Frank and his son and they were hugging little blonde witch who gave him an innocent but very toothy grin. Normally, his first reaction to such a disaster would have been to get furious but as he was now spotless and he was after all, the consummate politician in the Great Hall of Hogwarts full of future voters, so held his tongue. Then he saw the ridiculous looking young pompous redhead, Weatherby, completely covered in hot chilli beans and spinach with steam coming out of his ears, and he couldn't help himself as he laughed long and hard with everyone else.

Then the Minister noticed the sad look of bewildered astonishment on the headmaster's face and laughed himself silly as he knew the Manipulative Old Fool had set up the whole situation and it had fallen flat with the bonus that it wasn't his fault plus the headmaster had used up all his political favours and he didn't owe him anything.

And when the photographer from the Quibbler returned, the Minister made sure to get a great selfie with The-Boy-Who-Lived, his friends and specially including the Grangers and Longbottoms. He would hang the photo up in his office just to annoy the scheming manipulative headmaster.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

While in a large portrait behind the head table, Lord Phineas Nigellus Black and the other former heads of Hogwarts had gathered to watch the feast and see what the Toad and headmaster would do. Lord Black had told Kreacher how to circumvent the headmaster's hexes which had confined them to the portraits in his office. That afternoon they had listened to the devious schemes of the headmaster as he had insisted to the Minister that he bring his Undersecretary to the feast in the Great Hall. Phineas had sent Kreacher to warn the Vengeful Kitty but she hadn't been able to stop the devious despicable headmaster. They ended up with many happy memories of the train wreck of the Toad's escape and the headmaster's disappointment.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

While Dan thought of a funny joke. "What's the difference between Luna and a Great White?"

"Oh, I don't know." Emma replied.

"Well they both strike from the unknown and are utterly devastating but Bruce was male and Luna is obviously female."

"Bruce?"

"Yeah, Bruce, after Spielberg's lawyer."

Luna looked at Hermione for a translation.

"It's a Dad joke." Hermione exasperatedly explained. "It is supposed to be funny to Dads."

"Oh?" Luna smiled. "What sort of lawyer is a Great White?"

Hermione smiled as she hugged her, while Neville kissed the top of Luna's head and then said. "But you did strike from the unknown and you were absolutely utterly devastating. You saved us Luna, my little Moonbeam Imp."

Luna, the Moonbeam Imp, was very happy with herself as she had just proved that Wrackspurts do actually exist and they give an indication of mental health or the lack thereof. She could hardly wait to tell her father.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

While Padfoo and Moony were busy setting up their Marauder's Control Room under the modified Quidditch Pitch viewing stands as they prepared for the Third Task, and had been testing out their DobbyCam and KreacherCam with Dobby and Kreacher using a hoverboard, a mirror camera and plenty of Notice-Me-Not runes, to capture the events in the Great Hall. Moony had to tie Padfoo up to stop him storming into the Great Hall and dealing with the Toad. But then Luna, the Moonbeam Imp, struck back and the Toad was banished screaming from the castle. Padfoo and Moony with DobbyCam and KreacherCam had together caught every bit of the Toad's painful escape as well as the music the Castle played and they combined the two camera feeds together to turn the Toad's thirty seconds of comical fame into a five minute short film with the critical bits in slow motion from multiple angles and close ups of the expressions certain individuals. Including a close up of the _**M**_ anipulative _**O**_ ld _**F**_ ool at the moment when Moonbeam struck back and the headmaster's face went from sheer ebullience glee through consternation, despair, disappointment and woe, to utter catastrophic cataclysmic calamity. They were still laughing themselves silly an hour later when Hermione and Co later arrived to support Harry at the start of the third task.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

After the excitement of the Toad's unfortunate but welcomed departure, Hagrid arrived at the feast in a very cheerful Great Hall with James, the Thunderbird, sitting on his shoulder. He had been teaching James to say; 'Who's a pretty bird?' and had lost track of the time. He was a little surprised to get so much attention as all the witches who wanted to see his new friend as Hagrid didn't have any pets, only seriously misunderstood friends, and the witches asked if they could join his class. Of course he said yes, even to the first and second year witches. And then James started to sing and everyone fell silent to listen to the hauntingly beautiful melody and Fawkes arrived in a ball of flames to join in as the Castle played along.

But not everyone was happy with the glorious, uplifting, cheerful music and a certain manipulative headmaster expressed his uncharitable thoughts towards Hagrid and his singing bird. But it was obvious to everyone that the silly old fool was green with envy and showed his jealous side that he was completely outclassed by the brilliantly colourful, talented and extremely cute bird.

The same manipulative headmaster had been trying to remind a certain Potions Master how much a certain student looked exactly like his childhood arch-nemesis. The headmaster's manipulations may have reminded Severus about how much he disliked James Potter but as he had made his peace with Lily's son and he could quietly rage against at the right person whose despicable manipulations had caused the situation that resulted in her untimely tragic death, and he was waiting for his opportunity to act. But he knew it will take years for him to get over the deep seated hatred he had for his childhood arch-nemesis as it was the only thing that had kept him going since that terrible night. He just didn't realise how severe the hatred and negative thoughts toward James Potter had affected his life and would affect his future if he didn't let it go.

James, the Thunderbird could sense the negativity and hatred in the dark-haired wizard and the Manipulative Old Fool, and he decided to do something to help them. After all that is what the thunderstorms he created did. They have lightning to highlight that there is a problem and discharge the negative vibes with refreshing rain to wash and clear the air, so the sunshine of a new day can give warmth to encourages new life to grow hope and love.

So, James, the Thunderbird, took flight and flew around the Great Hall with Fawkes but as they passed over the head table, James momentarily changed colour to fireball red, and there was a double flash of lightning as two tiny personal thunderstorms appeared and it started to flash tiny little cute lightning bolts and rain only over the head a certain manipulative jealous headmaster and a certain Potions professor who now had a completely new James to complain about.

The certain Potions professor soon discovered that his personal thunderstorm matched his mood as well as his uncharitable thoughts towards a certain other James, and followed him everywhere he went. Nothing he did would get rid of it.

Until Hagrid told him. "Just apologise you damn fool and say you're sorry."

At his wits' end, the certain soaked professor that looked like drown-rat, finally said.

"I am sooorrrr. Sooorrrr. Sooorrrr."

Hagrid gave the drown-rat a friendly slap on the back to help him get the word out.

"Sorry!"

And his personal thunderstorm ended with a flash of lightning.

"There, that's better!" Hagrid smiled as he waved his pink umbrella over the Potions Professor and dried him off as he sat down next to him.

"You know, I had high hopes for you and Lily." Hagrid continued as Severus looked at him. In all the years he had been at Hogwarts, he had never really spoken to the half-giant.

"High hopes?"

"Yes. I hoped that the love between you and Lilly might just bridge the widening gap between students at Hogwarts before that civil war really got going." Hagrid said. "With Lily in Gryffindor and you in Slytherin. You were quite the power couple when the two of you arrived at Hogwarts. Lily was so beautiful and sassy and loved you so much that so many boys were jealous of you."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, but little by little your pettiness showed through as they bullied you and pushed all your buttons."

"Oh?"

"And Lily was ferocious to defend you. So loyal."

"Oh?" Severus said as he remembered a couple times Lilly took out her temper on the bullies, including James Potter and Sirius Black.

"You and Lily could have done what Harry and Hermione's love has done to heal this school."

"Oh?"

"Until in your stupidity, you pushed her love away."

Offended, Severus responded. "What would you know of love?"

Hagrid looked at Severus. "Love is all around us, Severus. I see it in the harmony of life in the Forbidden Forest as everything is interconnected and depends on each other to live."

"What about your pet Acromantulas?"

"Well maybe not them, but where they come from they have a part to play in the circle of life. Being alpha predators, they are top of the food chain but their function is to eat and recycle other creatures to feed the grass."

"Oh?"

"Have you considered how a tree is the manifestation of Love. They grows tall and strong so they can give food and shelter to all who come under their branches. Their roots hold the soil together so it is not washed away. They recycle water and clean carbon dioxide from the air to release oxygen." Hagrid continued. "That is what Love is. Giving of yourself for the benefit of others. Love is the design principle of Creation, it is found everywhere."

"Oh?" Severus said as he had never seen that as all his focus had been on getting a fleeting thing called power.

"When Tom Riddle set me up and got me expelled, I had nowhere else to go and I released Aragog deep in the Forbidden Forest and that was where I found the Captain Courageous Tree."

"Captain Courageous Tree?"

"Yeah, that was what I called her. I was so hurt and dismayed at how unfair I had been treated until I found the Captain Courageous Tree." Hagrid said as he took a drink while James started to hum an inspirational tune. "She is an ancient oak tree that had been struck by lightning and burnt hollow, but she didn't say die or surrender. She just started to grow again. Then she was blown over but she didn't give up as she still had roots in the ground. She just started to grow vertical stems from her horizontal hollow trunk. If any tree had the reason to be a victim, it was her. But she just seemed to forgive the past so she could courageously overcome the challenges that faced her, and live to grow for a future full of hope and love."

"Oh?" Severus said as he tried to remember something his mother had told him.

"Life can be difficult at times but the failure to love causes true suffering and oppression." Hagrid explained and ignored any reference to a nefarious Greater Good.

"Oh?"

"I have seen so many students go through Hogwarts enslaved in a quest for riches and power." Hagrid shook his head. "And they are so unhappy, miserable and unloved."

"Oh?" Severus could relate to that.

"I think about the Captain Courageous Tree when I get depressed, and it lifts me up, and I forgive the past and start afresh to live again. That's love, Severus." Hagrid said with a tear in the corner of his eye while Severus thought about his past and how it still hurt him.

"And Lily loved you." Hagrid said as he looked at Severus in the eye. "But you still hate James Potter and worse you used to take out that hatred on young Harry just because he looks like his father."

"I know and I am ashamed of how I treated him so terribly." Severus said. "I realise now that the headmaster manipulated my hatred for James to control me."

"Fear and hatred can destroy so much and control a lot of sheeple." Hagrid said as he looked Severus in the eye. "But what are you going to do now?"

"I am going to forgive James and Sirius. I am going to try to be a better person. To build bridges and stamp out this hatred, rivalry and bulling between Slytherin and Gryffindor."

"That's a good start."

Severus nodded. "Harry forgave me."

"He truly is Lily's son."

"Yes he is."

Hagrid dug something out of his pocket. "Here, it is an acorn from the Captain Courageous Tree. Plant her in a spot full of love."

Severus looked at the acorn as though it was more precious than gold. He knew of a place where the tree would receive plenty of love, sunshine and water near the grave of the only other person who loved him unconditionally.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

But when the certain Potions professor forgot and relapsed to have an uncharitable thought about James Potter or anyone else, his personal thunderstorm came back and stayed until he quickly apologised as he began to realise how intense his hatred of James Potter had become, and he became thankful for the assistance James, the Thunderbird, gave to help him get over his deep seated issues with his childhood arch-nemesis, as such hatred was not healthy and would destroy his future.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

On the other hand, everyone at the head table had moved away from the tiny close personal thunderstorm that was intensely raging away over the headmaster's head as it reflected the level of consuming focus he held on the boy, and it took a while for the manipulative old fool to notice that his beautiful robes and hair were soaking wet as he was so preoccupied with all his scheming and plans for the boy going absolutely wrong. But he still was a powerful wizard even with his own original Ollivander wand and he banished the distraction with a wave of his wand.

The newly orphaned close personal thunderstorm then found the next most powerful source of uncharitable thoughts in the Great Hall and attached itself to him. And no it wasn't Draco as he had learnt his lesson to keep his big mouth shut. Yes, you guessed it. It was the red dunderhead. How long do you think it would take for him to learn to apologise from his heart and say sorry? But fortunately for him, Lavender's bright smile and sunny attitude would drive the tiny close personal thunderstorm away, so it would only follow the red dunderhead when he was alone with his thoughts.

While Harry had a very wicked thought and wondered if he could ask James the Thunderbird to visit Durzkaban.

Hermione and Emma thought that was a brilliant idea.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

James, the Thunderbird, didn't bother replacing the tiny close personal thunderstorm to follow the manipulative old fool as he was set in ways and was far too old to learn new tricks or say sorry and truly mean it as words were just tools of what to say to get what he wanted from others and had no true value or meaning for him.

And besides James had something that made the old goat completely insane with jealousy. James had his own fan club called; you guessed it, _The Thunderbirds_. Dan and Emma were the patrons, Hermione was president, Luna was the Senior Membership Officer and the Supreme Press Secretary, Harry was Treasurer while Neville, Colin, Kreacher, Dobby and Winky were Luna's assistants. While Anastasia was in charge of security.

And you're in luck as Luna has just released a press statement offering free membership to The Thunderbirds Fan Club if you leave a nice, cheerful, colourful review full of life and love, and request membership.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

James, the Thunderbird, was happy in his home with Hagrid, but a little lonely for another Thunderbird. So he thought he would ask Hagrid to write a letter to his old friend, Newt, for another Thunderbird egg. On second thoughts, James decided to ask Luna and Hermione to write to Newt and ask for a female Thunderbird egg. While James would love to have a Sirius but he would loved it much more to have a Lily Thunderbird.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

 _Thank you for reading._


	12. The Tempest of the Third Task

Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again.

Chapter 12. The Great Evil of the Greater Good. Part 2 The Tempest of the Third Task.

19/02/19 Beta by alix33 Thank you.

I don't own the Harry Potter verse. Just playing.

Thank you for all your kind reviews.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Slowly, the Magic of the Night fought back against the evil of the potent brew of the Greater Good mixed with a bad dose of the Ministry of Magic megascopic incompetence.

There was hope and joy after Luna, the Moonbeam Imp, had struck back to save her friends and love ones.

Her example inspired the champions as they realised that this Tri-Wizard Tournament was quickly become very dangerous and the interference of a certain despicable headmaster was making it more difficult to survive. They could see that united they could win while divided, they all died.

Certain Professors could see an opportunity to make a difference as the winds of change were now blowing against the manipulative old fool.

And the Magic of the Night would never give up!

Never surrender!

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

After the successful saving of Hermione and the little Veela during the second task, Cedric and Viktor decided to team up with Harry and Fleur to survive the third task and they had trained together. Harry shared the information that the Marauder's Map could show the layout of the maze and what it contained. Sirius and Remus came on board and set up their Marauder's Control Room under the modified Quidditch Pitch viewing stands. The control room contained seating for the family and friends plus a large portrait for Lord Phineas Nigellus Black and his fellow portrait friends along with a stand for Fergus, the Sorting Hat and Fawkes, to watch the large viewing mirrors on the wall which were connected to a small camera mirrors inscribed with night vision runes and stuck on each champion's chest to act as a personal body camera and record the event plus Remus had made a smaller version of the Marauder's Map called a mini map that were linked together and was stuck onto the sleeve of their battle robes. The champions plus Hermione, Neville, Luna, Sirius, Remus and Headmistress Olympe Maxime had ear pieces for communication. Dobby and Kreature also had a camera mirror with the night vision runes and an earpiece so that they could pop around on a hoverboard with Notice-Me-Not runes, and provide a DobbyCam and KreacherCam overviews.

So on the night of the third task while the students and the large crowd of guests of the Minister of Magic sat in the viewing stands to watch a twenty foot high tall wall of the maze, the family and close friends of the champions along with Lord Phineas Nigellus Black and his fellow portrait friends plus Fergus, the Sorting Hat and Fawkes, gathered in the Marauder's Control Room to watch their love ones fight for their lives and for each other on the large viewing mirrors.

DobbyCam and KreacherCam gave them an overview of the start of the Third Task and the entrance of the maze. The Champions wanted to enter the maze together at the same time but of course, Dumbledore and Karkaroff strenuously protested and insisted that Viktor go first as he was the leading champion after his combined score from the first task and what was resolved from the mess of the Second Task. While Harry was dead last after the headmaster penalised him for leaving the school grounds without his express permission.

Reluctantly, Viktor entered alone and was not really surprised to feel the jerk somewhere behind his navel. He realised that the Manipulative headmaster had made the Champion's Entrance into some sort of Portkey portal. When he landed he found a place to wait for the others to enter the maze while KreacherCam popped in fifteen feet overhead to give an overview of the situation. Viktor reported the news of the Portkey Portal but was distracted as he looked at his mini map to discover where he had landed and didn't notice the dark cloaked wizard limp over to him until it was too late.

In the control room Remus was watching the Marauder's Map while Sirius was watching the viewing mirror.

"What the?" Remus said as he saw Viktor as he went through the Champion's Entrance of the maze, then jump to a position that was two hundred feet away at the opposite end from where he had entered.

But before he could work out what had just happened.

"What the?" Sirius exclaimed as he saw one of the wizards patrolling the maze limped up to Viktor. He was wearing a dark cloak and limped quickly like a younger Mad-Eye Moody but Remus still checked the Map. He was confused to read the name next to Viktor was Barty Crouch but when he looked back at the mirror he saw the wizard had his wand was out and pointing at Viktor as he heard the dreaded words while KreatureCam picked up Moody's voice.

"Imperio! Kill Cedric and the witch! Make sure Potter reaches the trophy first!"

"Damn!" Remus cursed. "Viktor has been attacked with the Imperius Curse to kill Cedric and Fleur, and make sure Harry wins!"

"What?" Was heard over the comms.

Sirius repeated the warning. "Viktor has been blasted with the Imperius Curse to kill Cedric and Fleur, and make sure Harry wins!"

"Copy!"

"The bad wizard has left the maze!" Remus updated them.

Sirius continued. "Must have used a Portkey."

"On school grounds! That means Dumbledore is involved somehow!" Remus reasoned.

The three remaining champions looked at each other and Headmistress Olympe Maxime as they heard the bad news. She nodded as she led them to the entrance of the maze but Karkaroff and Dumbledore swooped in to try and block them as it was almost time for Cedric to enter the maze alone.

"My dear madam, I am afraid we have discussed this. _**Erk!"**_

 _ **THUD!**_

PLOP! PLOP!

"Here endeth the discussion!"

Madam Maxime had drawn herself up to her full nine feet and reached out with both hands to pick up the two interfering headmasters by their necks and slammed their heads together and dropped their limp bodies in a heap. They would not be interfering anymore tonight.

Then the pompous redhead Ministry official stepped forward to try and block the entrance, but backed down as Madam Maxime reached out and then he squeaked. "The headmaster said that he had warded this entrance to only admit champions!"

Madam Maxime stopped as the champions looked at her.

"It is okay, Headmistress, you have got us past the most difficult obstruction." Harry said sadly. "We can take it from here and save our friend."

Remus thought about Viktor's jump and then added over the comms. "Go through the entrance together holding hands."

"What?" Harry and Cedric questioned as Fleur humph. "Boys!"

And she grabbed their hands and lead them through the Champion's Entrance together.

Madam Maxime watched them disappear as she whispered a silent prayer. Then she heard a hated noise behind her.

"Hem, hem!"

Madam Maxime froze as she could hear the footsteps of that hateful creature come closer.

"HEM, HEM!"

The toad looking Ministry official said louder as she didn't appreciate being ignored and came closer. She smirked at the thought of the pleasure that she would have as she had the vile half-beast creature arrested for assaulting the headmaster of not one but two prestigious schools.

" _H_ _EM,_ _HEM_ _!"_

She hopped closer as she wanted the vile bitch to turn around so she could see the fear in her eyes before she commanded the Aurors to arrest her as she cheerfully would say; ' _off_ _with her_ _to Azkaban'_.

" _ **H**_ _ **EM,**_ _ **HEM**_ _ **!"**_

The toad was in range and Madam Maxime swung around fast, low and wildly!

 _ **SLAP!**_

" _ **HHHHeeEEeeEEeeEEee...ERK!"**_

Madam Maxime's big hand had _accidentally_ caught the squashed head of the Ministry official and slapped the sneering toad like creature cartwheeling straight through the Champion's Entrance as she croaked and disappeared into the maze.

"Oh deary me. You gave me such a fright!" Madam Maxime said with a very pleased smirk as she used her wand to wash the slime off her hand. While Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout and Snape all performed a synchronised fist pump and a hissed, "Yes!" to celebrate the latest round of punishment to befall the headmaster, and the Toad.

"That's quite alright Madam, accidents do happen." Minister Fudge said carefully as he slowly backed away. He didn't want to have an accident like Dumbledore, Karkaroff and Umbridge. He was enjoying the fact that the Headmistress had flattened the manipulative old fool that he didn't think to send someone to go fetch his Undersecretary and he never liked Karkaroff anyway. While the other Ministry officials there tried to hide the smirk on their faces at the tactical retreat of their brave fearless leader, and hoped the horrid toad wouldn't enjoy her next adventure.

Madam Bones smiled as she gave the order to send Karkaroff and Dumbledore to St Mungo's Secure Section and away from his precious castle, and went to sit with her niece before the fearless imbecile could think to order her to go fetch his Undersecretary. Her Aurors followed her example to return to their posts around the maze and the viewing stands.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Remus and Sirius noticed another name appeared on the other side of the maze right between an Acromantula and a Blast-Ended Skrewt. The name read _the Pink_ _Toad_ _Bitch_ and Remus and Sirius knew exactly who that was as the Marauder's Map was never wrong.

While a certain pompous redhead Ministry official looked rather alarmed. He had omitted to explain that the wards that the headmaster had placed on the Champion's Entrance were designed to act as a Portkey portal and send each champion to a different starting location within the maze and to prevent a certain champion from just walking back out of the entrance. So it was important that they entered one at a time and as the headmaster was not sure of the order that the champions would enter, the wards made their selection based on the champion's height. As Fleur led the boys into the entrance, they were all ported to her starting location near Viktor.

Unknown to the redhead official, the real reason why Dumbledore was interfering so much was to ensure that Tom had the best chance of finally killing the boy this time and the portal would sent the boy to a starting location in the maze well away from the other champions that had three Blast-Ended Skrewts and two Acromantulas between him and the trophy, plus a host of other creatures and traps. (In canon, Barty Crouch junior had to work very hard to clear the Blast-Ended Skrewts and two Acromantulas out of the path of the boy by manipulating the maze to open and close various paths as the boy had to be alive enough to grab the Trophy.)

As the toad was a little shorter than the boy, you can guess where she went.

And it was such a pity that she had unintentionally dropped her horrid pink handbag that held her wand and her Ministry Emergency Portkey when she was accidentally slapped through the Champion's Entrance.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

While the family and friends of the Champions were watching the DobbyCam overview mirror and cheering for Madam Maxime for her fantastic way of dealing with the headmaster and the toad, while Lord Phineas Nigellus Black and his fellow portrait friends along with Fergus, the Sorting Hat and Fawkes were absolutely ecstatic.

Remus watched the Marauder's Map as the three champions jumped to a starting location in the maze near Viktor and quickly mapped out the quickest route for them to follow to Viktor and traced it on his mini Map to send to the other champions.

"I will go first." Harry said as he lit his wand to light their position as it was very dark in the narrow maze at night with the twenty foot walls. "Viktor is not a threat to me."

Cedric checked their mini map and directed Harry to follow the route Remus had sent them as DobbyCam popped in after the excitement at the entrance was finished and used his Marauder's Mini hoverboard to float eight feet off the ground and follow the champions.

Harry soon found Viktor; he had dropped his wand and was shaking as he fought the terrible Imperius Curse.

Harry wrapped his arms around his friend and said. "Viktor! We know you can fight this curse. We trust you!"

"Yes, we love you, Viktor!" Fleur added as Viktor fought a compulsion to kill his friend.

"You can do this, Viktor!" Encouraged Cedric.

With a final groan of concentration, Viktor slumped exhausted into Harry's hug as he eyes cleared up and he weakly smiled as he had thrown off the terrible Unforgivable curse.

"Great work, Viktor, I knew you could do it." Harry congratulated his friend as the other two joined the group hug.

"Thanks guys." Viktor said exhaustedly as Cedric conjured up a seat for Viktor to sit on and then picked his wand to return it to him while Fleur reached inside her battle jacket's front-hip pocket which had been charmed to be bottomless and contained water bottles, emergency first aid items and potion phials. She pulled out a phial of Pepperup Potion and gave it to Viktor to drink. He accepted it with a nod of thanks.

The champions rested for a moment while Remus and Sirius were studying the Marauder's Map for the quickest and safest route to the trophy and keeping an eye out for Barty Crouch. Dan wanted to help but he had his arms full trying to comfort and support Emma and Hermione, and Neville found himself in the same position comforting Luna.

The champions smiled as they got back onto the task at hand as Remus traced a route onto his mini map to appear on Cedric's mini map, while Sirius explained. "You are clear to follow this route but understand some of the tests in the maze are static while others dynamic, and the maze itself is dynamic with opening and closing pathways."

"The maze moves? Why am I not surprised?" Harry asked sarcastically.

"Cheer up Harry." Padfoo encouraged. "With us to help you, what could possibly go wrong?"

"Okay, okay." Harry said as Viktor nodded. "We are ready to move."

The Castle played Peter Gunn as the four champions took out their dark sunglasses and put them on. When Remus heard that the third task will be in the maze at night in the dark he had enchanted some Muggle sunglasses with ancient runes to give them night vision, the same enchantment used on their mirror cameras. The dark sunglasses looked really cool and the night vision turned the dark night into a sunny day, so they wouldn't give away their position with lights.

Cedric went point while Fleur kept an eye on Viktor until he was fully recovered and Harry brought up the rear to make sure there were no little surprises following them. As they walked in silence they could hear the other magical creatures nearby.

After a short time Remus spoke. "There is a magical trap coming up. The Map just says _conturbabimus_. Not sure what it will do."

"Copy." Cedric reported. "Will check it out."

Cedric came around a corner and stopped. There was a golden mist that twinkled innocently at him in the moonlight. "Found a golden mist and it is floating about head height. So it messes with your mind."

"Can you see what is anchoring it?" Remus asked.

Fleur reached out with her magic and found something next to the hedge and pointed. "There, that stone is anchoring the hex."

Viktor pointed his wand. _"Finite Incantatem Maximus!"_

The golden mist vanished with a pop.

"Good work, Viktor." Cedric encouraged with a smile as they turned to continue down the path.

Remus warned them. "There is another odd enchantment coming up."

"Copy, what is it?"

"Not sure the map just says, _occiduus_." Remus said.

Hermione didn't bother to put her hand up and called out. "Sinking, occiduus means sinking, declining, failing, or settling."

"Thanks Hermione."

They move forward carefully but they couldn't see anything as Fleur reached out with her magic.

Then Fleur grabbed the edge of Cedric's robe and pulled him back.

"The enchantment is on the ground." Fleur said as she conjured a pebble and tossed it in front of Cedric.

It sank into the ground and Fleur said. "Sables mouvants! Er. Quicksand!"

"Oh! Thanks Fleur."

They conjured more pebbles and tossed them onto the path and watched them disappear as they sank into the ground. The enchanted quicksand patch was about ten feet long and as wide as the path.

"The anchoring stone for the enchantment must be at the bottom of that pit." Fleur said as she reached out her magic again. "I can't feel it on the surface."

"I can jump ten feet." Viktor said. "Let me go first!"

The pebbles they had cast marked the beginning and end of the quicksand patch. They stood to one side of the path as Viktor backed up and started to run. His jump easily cleared the quicksand. Cedric jumped next followed by Harry. Fleur jumped last and her graceful leap would have easily cleared the quicksand but Cedric and Viktor still caught her anyway.

"Thanks boys!" Fleur said with cheeky smile.

Viktor took a turn at point as Cedric walked with Fleur and Harry guarded their backs. They had walked a little further when they heard loud growling from a pack of very big dogs coming from the other side of the wall of the maze and it was following them.

"Remus, what is on the other side of the hedge?" Harry asked concerned.

Remus checks the Marauder's Map. "The Map says it is a _Fluffy_. What the hell is a Fluffy?"

"Damn." Harry said. "Fluffy is Hagrid's pet Cerberus."

"Hagrid has a pet Cerberus?" Sirius laughed.

"I wouldn't be laughing, Padfoo, that Cerberus was fifteen feet tall when I last saw it three years ago." Harry replied. "Can he get to us?"

"Just a moment." Remus said. "It is following you on the other side of the hedge. Oh! There is a cross-path opening up just ahead of you. If you run quietly you might be able to beat the Cerberus."

The champions silenced their boots and started to run. Cedric and Viktor were ahead while Harry was with Fleur. They saw the cross-path opening wider as Cedric and Viktor made it across when three big heads with sharp pointy teeth appeared around the corner right in front of Harry. He stopped dead and Fleur ran into him and screamed. Harry grabbed Fleur and pulled her back from the snapping teeth.

Harry looked into her eyes. "It okay Fleur, this path is too narrow for Fluffy."

Fleur started to calm down and they could hear Cedric and Viktor on the other side yelling to get Fluffy's attention. But he was a male dog and Fleur was a beautiful Veela and there was this whole Beauty and the Beast vibe going on as Fluffy stopped growling and had this dopey look on his three faces as he stared starstruck at Fleur and started to drool.

"Fleur, I need you to sing like you sang to that dragon." Harry remembered. "Music will put a Cerberus to sleep. Can you sing for me?"

Fleur nodded and closed her eyes as she started to sing this beautiful French lullaby that she sang to her little sister. Halfway through the second verse Fluffy had collapsed and was snoring like a baby. The only problem now was that he completely blocked the path. Harry was about to summon his Firebolt when Fleur concentrated and these beautiful fairy wings came out of her back.

"Oh, wow!" Harry said. "They're gorgeous."

Fleur looked into Harry's eyes. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes!"

Fleur picked Harry up in her arms and flew over the sleeping Cerberus careful not to go over the height of the walls in case the imbecile Minister or that insane Dumbledore had placed some nasty wards there to stop a certain particular champion from summonsing his broom and just using it to fly over the walls to the center of the maze. She gracefully landed next to two astonished wizards as she lowered Harry to the ground and then flicked her long blonde hair back over her head as she stood up with a winning smile.

"You have wings?" Cedric asked without thinking.

"Of course." Fleur replied.

"We don't."

"Yeah, but you're boys." Fleur said with that _'Girls are the best'_ tone as her wings disappeared into her back.

"Oh?"

"That was brilliant Harry and Fleur." Hermione congratulated and they could hear Remus and Sirius cheering in the background with their friends and family.

"Now there is another cross-path coming up and there may be a Blast-Ended Skrewt on the path to the right. You will need to go left." Remus instructed.

"Damn, another one of Hagrid's pets." Cedric cursed as Fleur and Viktor realised that whatever a Skrewt was, it was bad news. Wands out the champions advanced down their path.

Sure enough this really ugly creature appeared on the right. It looked like a cross between an elongated crab and a scorpion, with no discernible heads. It was suppose to have incredibly strong armour but with four wands firing the same explosive hex at point blank, it blew to pieces. Fleur remembered to immediately cast a shield charm to stop the stinking mess from landing on them. They turned left and continue on their way.

"Well done guys." Remus said. "Hagrid might forgive you for hurting one of his pets. Now there is a Boggart coming up around the next corner."

"Damn!" Cedric said. "My Boggart is the three Wicked Witches of Gryffindor."

"You're lucky!" Harry said. "My Boggart is a Dementor."

"Oh, you win." Cedric said as they came around the corner to see a Dementor in front of them.

Harry remembered that first kiss with Hermione in the middle of the Great Hall at the Yule Ball and pointed his wand as he cried. "Expecto Patronum!"

A brilliant white shining stag flowed out of his wand and charged the Demented Boggart. They watched as the Boggart changed from the Dementor form as it faced the charging stag and changed into a likeness of Harry before it disappeared with a scream.

"Damn!" Cedric said. "Who knew a Boggart's Boggart was Harry Potter!"

"Dementors don't like me much either." Harry said as Fleur and Viktor just shook their heads amazed at their littlest champion and noted that Harry had said Dementors with an 'S'.

"I am so sorry about that Quidditch match Harry, I did offer a rematch." Cedric continued.

"It's okay, Cedric. You caught the snitch fair and square, and besides there was only five Dementors that time." Harry replied not noticing the reaction of the other two champions.

Fleur and Viktor looked at each other and whispered. "What sort of school would force them to play Quidditch with Dementors?" _"_ _Yeah, I think we have completely_ _underestimated_ _our_ _littlest champion."_ "And this despicable insane headmaster."

"Brilliant Harry." Hermione said over the comms.

"I was thinking of that kiss, Hermione." Harry replied.

"Well there is plenty more where that came from."

"Good work guys!" Remus congratulated. "Now there is a Sphinx coming up and then you are clear to the Tri-Wizard Trophy. She will ask you to answer a riddle. If you answer correctly she will let you pass."

"But won't a Sphinx only let one pass at time?" Luna asked.

"Yes, we need to bypass the Sphinx, Remus." Hermione answered. "Is there another path?"

"Oh, you're right. Okay there are no more cross-paths but the path on the other side of the wall on your right is clear." Remus said as four wands pointed to the right side wall and blew a large hole in it. The champions quickly jumped through the hole and crossed over as the hedge started to grow back. They could see the Tri-Wizard Trophy glowing at the end of the path.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Sadly, Cleopatra the Sphinx, watched as the champions disappeared through the hole in the hedge. She had thought up a brilliant four part riddle which would have let the four champions pass together if each champion correctly solved their part. Otherwise she would have had them all for supper. Slowly she walked along the maze towards the outer wall and near to the castle she could sense. Once the maze is solved and the hedge walls come down she will try to sneak into the castle and find a nice dark corridor to occupy as she looked forward to all the students she could challenge with a riddle and she won't be lonely again.

The Boggarts thought that was a brilliant idea and got ready to escape too.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

With the Tri-Wizard Tournament Trophy in sight, there was a feeling of relief that the last task would be over soon as the champions walked together along the path.

"Okay, it is very important that no one touches the Tri-Wizard Trophy before you cast those revealing charms on it." Remus warned. "The task is almost over and the bad wizard might try to do something again to ensure that Harry touches the Trophy first. So the Trophy could be a Portkey."

They looked at Harry as he explained. "We believed my entry into the Tri-Wizard Tournament was a plot by Voldemort to use me in his quest for a new body and then kill me."

"What again?" Cedric asked.

"Again?" Fleur and Viktor asked in surprise.

"This would make the fourth attempt to kill you by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named since you came to Hogwarts, Harry." Cedric stated.

"No, it is just the third attempt, first year was Quirrellmort and second year was Tom-mort and the Basilisk. Last year was Sirius Black but he is my innocent dogfather so all the Dementor attacks don't count. That was just the Ministry of Magic trying to kill Hermione, Sirius and me." Harry replied. "And if you are uncomfortable to say Voldemort, please use his real name; Tom or Tom Marvolo Riddle."

"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle?" Viktor asked.

"Yeah, Tom Riddle is his Muggle father and Marvolo Gaunt is his Pure-blood Grandfather. Lord Voldemort is just an anagram." Harry explained as he moved his wand to write 'Tom Marvolo Riddle' in fiery letters and then waved his wand to transpose the fiery letters to read; 'I am Lord Voldemort.'

"That monster is not a Pure-blood?" Viktor and Cedric said.

"No, his father was pure Muggle and his mother was a squib." Harry casually explained as they walked along the path.

"Wow?"

"Yeah, anyway I am sorry you three got caught up in his evil schemes. It has ruined the Tri-Wizard Tournament for you." Harry apologised. "You ought to have your own fourth task after this to decide the real Tri-Wizard Tournament champion. Maybe a broom race with just the three of you."

"It's alright Harry, it's not your fault that Tom and the Ministry are trying to kill you." Cedric said as he looked at the other two as they thought about the strange life of their littlest champion whom they now considered as a little brother. They would have already died in the Tournament without him.

"Have you ever thought that Hogwarts is not a safe place for you, Harry?" Fleur asked.

Harry chuckled. "Many times but it is better than Durzkaban although I am still stuck under Dumbledore's thumb. Thankfully Hermione has given me some better options for the summer."

Remus was watching the champions as they progressed on the Marauder's Map when he noticed a wizard appear near a giant Acromantula in the clearing where the Tri-Wizard Trophy was. He saw the name Barty Crouch and he seemed to be forcing the Acromantula to cut off the champions and then he disappeared again.

"Er guys?" Remus asked. "There appears to be an Acromantula moving to block your path."

The Tri-Wizard Trophy looked so close and Harry yelled. "Damn! RUN!"

Harry was in the lead as the biggest Acromantula he had ever seen moved to block their path just forty feet in front of Harry as he skidded to a stop. The Acromantula had seen them and started to force its way along the path as the hedge bent and cracked and finally gave way. Cedric and Viktor tried to blast a hole in the hedge so they could escape to the next path but in their haste Cedric blasted left while Viktor blasted right and neither hole was big enough for the four of them to pass through. While Fleur concentrated to summons her wings and prepared to grab the littlest champion.

While Harry pointed his wand in front of himself and thought of Hermione as he yelled.

" _ **EXPECTO PATRONUM!"**_

A brilliant white shining stag flowed out of his wand as they heard the strains of the William Tell in the back ground, and Harry jumped onto Prongs' back, as he reared up Harry pointed his wand at the Acromantula and yelled.

" _ **CHARGE!"**_

The silver stag surged forward directly towards the giant Acromantula and ran up the long front leg that was in their path as Harry fired blasting hexes at its eyes and every vulnerable spot. It reared up in its pain but Prongs was faster and they were quickly past the deadly fangs on the Cephalothorax as then they charged down the Abdomen of the monster spider while Harry continually fired blasting hexes into a few exposed spots.

The furious gigantic spider rolled right over on its bleeding back flattening the hedge but as it rolled over its long front legs passed the top of the hedge and hit a strong cutting ward only five feet above the twenty foot high hedge and lost eight feet off its two front legs as they were shredded by the cutting ward with a loud screeching noise.

The badly injured enraged Acromantula then flipped over sideways as its eight long legs scrambled to right itself and destroyed more of the maze in its mad charge after the silver stag.

" _ **YES!"**_

Harry yelled as he saw the Acromantula turn and chase after him back into the open courtyard at the center of the maze and away from his friends as they started to cast curses at its back. Harry pushed Prongs as they charged towards the Tri-Wizard Trophy. Instinctively he pointed his wand and flicked the Trophy over his head and at the charging furious giant spider.

Harry's aim was sure and true as the Trophy went straight down the Acromantula's bleeding mouth as the gigantic spider started to spin and disappeared in a flash to who knew where.

Well Harry hoped that the Acromantula would give the trophy back to the headmaster after showing its displeasure at its forced participation in the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

Forced participation was something Harry could understand and hated.

"Great shot, Harry!" Hermione cried as they could hear the cheers from the Control Room.

"Yes and the Acromantula has left Hogwarts! It was a trap, Harry! Brilliant thinking!" Remus confirmed from the Marauder's Map. "Dobby, can you follow the Tri-Wizard Trophy Portkey?"

DobbyCam popped away while KreatureCam stayed as Harry started to celebrate.

"YES!" Cheered Harry with a fist pump as he rode Prongs back to the three champions. "The Trophy was a trap to take me to Voldemort! Take that Tommy boy. See what happens when you mess with my friends!" Harry shouted as Prongs reared up in a little victory prance of his own as Harry patted a thank you to the brave stag. "You were great Prongs, I am sure the evil red-eye nose-less ugly baby of a creep will enjoy my little friend!"

"Harry, Dumbledore would be very disappointed of you making fun of someone else's misfortune." Sirius chuckled.

"Oh, to hell with Dumbledore! The interfering old coot! He can face Voldemort this time if he wants to!"

Harry cursed and laughed as he jumped off Prongs and did his own little victory dance then changed to shadow boxing an imaginary Voldemort opponent and defeat him with the good old right hook. Then he threw up his arms in a victory salute as he ran on the spot and acknowledged the cheers of an imaginary crowd while the Castle played a triumphant theme with trumpets and drums.

Fleur looked at the littlest champion celebrating with that beautiful silver stag behind him and back to where that enormous Acromantula had been. That was the closest she would ever want to get to a certain painful death. She could barely stand as the adrenaline left her and knew that Cedric, Viktor and herself had no chance against such a deadly creature, and only the quick thinking of the littlest champion had saved their lives. She couldn't help but think he had done this before and more than once, and that she had just had the privilege to share the life of Harry Potter for a brief moment and she was so glad that it was over.

Well that was until the next time.

She could see that Cedric and Viktor were thinking the same thing.

The Dragon got off lightly.

The littlest champion shrugged and rolled the tension out of his shoulders as Prongs faded away and turned to his comrades and said cheerfully.

"Well, it looks like the Acromantula won!"

"No, Harry, we did!" Cedric said as he pulled Harry, Fleur and Viktor into a group hug. "Together, we survived!"

Harry could feel that Fleur was shaking and turned to her. "I am sorry to frighten you like that. Those Acromantulas can move wickedly fast and are almost impossible to stop. It just made sense that the Tri-Wizard Trophy would be a Portkey and our only chance was to get to it before that Acromantula got to us. It was big enough to make its own path through the maze."

Cedric had to ask. "You have seen them before?"

"Yeah, there is a whole colony of them towards the south in the Forbidden Forest, and they tried to eat me then too. Whoever put that in the maze really wanted to kill somebody." Harry said as they nodded in agreement. "The only question is, who was trying to kill us and the usual suspects included Voldemort, Dumbledore and the Ministry."

"Its worse Harry. Did you see what happened to the Acromantula's legs as it flipped over?" Cedric asked.

"No?"

"The two front legs got shredded by a very strong cutting ward only a few feet above the hedges." Viktor explained.

"Anyone on a broom would have been decapitated." Cedric finished.

"Damn, that incompetent Ministry and damn, that insane headmaster." Harry cursed. "It's bad enough that I have one dark lord trying to kill me without those insane wackos trying to help."

While Fleur cursed in unrepeatable rapid fire French.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

While Fleur, Cedric and Viktor hugged Harry, he sagged a little as he got a head-rush full of visions like his dream during the previous summer. He saw the spinning giant Acromantula crash land in the middle of the dark graveyard on top of the giant snake that was Voldemort's familiar, Nagini, and then there started a battle royal to the death between the spider and the snake, while he heard Pettigrew curse his name and Babymort's high-pitched voice demanded Wormtail tell him what was happening. Then he felt the ground move as a ball of giant snake and spider with violently kicking legs rolled down the hill as Wormtail desperately tried to escape with Babymort. But Wormtail was too slow and they were crushed.

Then the vision stopped!

Harry didn't know if Babymort was dead or unconscious but he never received another vision from the dark lord again.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

The four victorious champions watched as the maze slowly dissolved into nothing as the third task was over with the touching of the Tri-Wizard Trophy. It was like one of those domino shows starting from the center where they were as the hedge walls dissolved like dominoes, going around and around as it flowed to the outside. Cedric conjured some seats for them to sit on as Fleur opened her battle jacket's pocket and took out phials of Pepperup potion and pass them around. Winky popped in with hot chocolate and finger food while Viktor kept an eye out for the other magical creatures nearby in the maze and tossed some pebbles up to see if the insane cutting ward was removed or came down as hedge vanished. The pebbles exploded at the same height that shows the ward was still there but not anchored to the hedge.

Harry spoke to his comms. "Remus, could you warn DobbyCam about the cutting ward at twenty-five feet. It is still there!"

"Copy."

Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington rode in on his ghost charger. "Well done, Mr Potter. The way you rode that silver stag and charged down that Acromantula was magnificent. Such a Gryffindor. Your parents would be so proud of you."

"Oh, thank you, Sir Nicholas." Harry replied. "Have you met the Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions?"

Harry introduce Sir Nicholas to Cedric, the official Hogwarts Champion, Fleur and Viktor and he bowed graciously to each and kissed Fleur's hand. Then he started to tell a tale of courage and valour which seemed to calm everyone as they waited for the maze to disappear completely.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Meanwhile DobbyCam followed the Portkey to a Muggle cemetery and floated a bit higher on his hoverboard as he watched the battle royal to the death as the monstrous Acromantula fought with a giant black snake. He could see a decrepit old man holding an ugly baby trying to get away from the fighting beasts when the Acromantula tripped with the snake wrapped around its legs and rolled down the hill like a giant bowling ball crushing the decrepit man, the ugly baby, and smashed tombstones and monuments. The giant snake had its head sliced off by a large metal scythe held by an Angel of Death that was part of the monument to the old Riddle Family, while the Acromantula lost two more legs. But the damage was done as the giant spider succumbed to the venom of the snake and the dark cold graveyard was silent again except for the struggling whimpering breath of an ugly crushed baby.

DobbyCam flew closer to identify the decrepit man and baby. Dobby snapped his fingers and put the struggling whimpering ugly baby to sleep.

"Damn, that's Pettigrew." Sirius cursed. "And that must be what Voldemort looks like now."

"That was brilliant Dobby." Remus congratulated the faithful elf. "Can you find any signs to help locate the graveyard?"

DobbyCam popped to the entrance of the graveyard and took a picture of the sign which read.

'Welcome to the Historic Graveyard of Little Hangleton.'

"Great Dobby, please return to Harry but be careful of a cutting ward at twenty-five feet above the ground over the maze." Sirius said. "We need to let Amelia know where she can find her missing spider along with that rat and Babymort."

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

DobbyCam popped in below twenty feet as he returned to the maze as the champions were listening to Remus description of the Acromantula's visit to the graveyard and its fight to the death, over their ear piece.

Sir Nicholas was still mounted on his horse as he spoke. "I can see the entrance; it is that way my dear friends. Please let me lead you from this glorious battlefield."

"Lead on Sir Nicholas." Cedric said as they stood up and arm in arm the combined Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions; Harry, Fleur, Cedric and Viktor walked out of the Quidditch pitch with their heads high as they followed the brave knight while the maze continued to dissolve into nothing as the Castle played the theme from the Great Escape.

Unfortunately the dissolving hedges of the maze had a rather surprising but not totally unexpected result as the disappearing walls released the rest of the magical creatures that were in the maze. Sirius and Remus watched on DobbyCam and KreatureCam as most of the magical creatures fled past the champions and into the Forbidden Forest, while a few larger magical creatures attacked the screaming crowd of wizards and witches who were sitting in the viewing stands watching the event including three Blast-Ended Skrewts and two other rampaging Acromantulas looking for their missing friend. The Sphinx escaped into the dark corridors of the castle while the Boggarts went to hide in the dungeons and behind the gargoyle that guarded the headmaster's office, causing the old fool to see his murdered sister and hear her screams every time he passed.

The champions had just strode past a still sleeping Cerberus with the dopey look on his drooling faces when they heard the screams coming from the viewing stands and realised the witches and wizards were being attack by the escaping creatures.

"Why I hear the cry of a damsel in distress, my friends." Sir Nicholas said as he looked towards where the screams were coming.

"Damn! This is not over yet!" Harry said as he cast the Patronus Charm four times in front of them. "And it sounds like more than one damsel!"

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more." Sir Nicholas encouraged. "The game's afoot. Follow your spirit, and upon this charge. Cry; 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!"

"Lead on Sir Nicholas!" Harry cried as he jumped on the back of the glowing silver stag in front of him.

"Oh! Hell! Yes!"

"Oh! Enfer! Oui!"

"О! Ада! Да!"

Cedric, Fleur and Viktor vociferated vehemently as Cedric and Viktor followed suit and jumped on the backs of their glowing stags while Fleur conjured up an elegant side-saddle on her stag and gracefully hopped on. Sir Nicholas's eyes sparkled with excitement as he took out an old battered bugle and sounded the charge while the Castle played the William Tell and then Ride of the Valkyries.

The four silver stags reared up as the four champions roared.

" _God for **Harry,** England, and Saint George!"_

" _ **CHARGE!"**_

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

 _Thank you for reading._


	13. The aftermath of the Third Task part 1

Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again.

Chapter 13. The Great Evil of the Greater Good. Part 3 The aftermath of the Tempest of the Third Task. Part 1.

23/07/19 Beta by alix33 Thank you.

I don't own the Harry Potter verse. Just playing.

Thank you for all your kind reviews.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

The Magic of the Night had fought back against the evil schemes of the headmaster's Greater Good.

And the Victorious Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions had survived the Third Task by working together. But it was not over yet as there was work to be done to clean up the mess the headmaster had created by allowing Acromantulas inside the Outer Wards of Hogwarts.

Then they still had to take control the resulting chaos before the headmaster did.

Certain Witches and Wizards, ghosts and even an ancient magical artefact or two could see an opportunity to make a difference and the winds of change were blowing like a gale against the wishes of the old fool.

And the Magic of the Night would never give up!

Never surrender!

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Hermione Jane Granger and the rest of Team Potter were celebrating the successful conclusion of the Third Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament while waiting in the secret Marauder's Control Room under the modified Quidditch Pitch viewing stands. When they heard Sir Nicholas sound the charge on his battered old bugle their attention was drawn back to the large viewing mirrors as they watched the Champions mount their silver Patronus stags and charge after the old knight through the dissolving maze.

"What is happening?" Hermione asked.

"Damn!" Remus said as he checked the old parchment in front of him. "The Marauder's Map is just a blur of movement and it is struggling to indicate that all the nice cuddly misunderstood creatures that the headmaster had collected for his third task, are escaping as the walls of the maze collapses!"

"What? Escaping back into the Forbidden Forest?" Emma asked hopefully.

"No!" Sirius said in a very serious tone. "They are heading towards the students in the viewing stands. They must be hungry!"

"Damn fool headmaster! Of course he hadn't bothered to feed them!" Emma cursed as Hermione added. "Stupid Tri-Wizard Tournament!"

"Damn stupid Ministry of Magic!" Alice continued as she felt her magic flare up.

(And somewhere a certain Minister of Magic felt a cold chill running down his spineless back.)

Augusta took charge as she was one of the Governors on the Hogwarts School Board and the most senior responsible School official present. "Remus and Sirius, you keep everyone safe here. Algernon and Frank." She turned to her brother and son. "You better call for your Unspeakables SWAT team and go and secure that Muggle graveyard."

Algernon nodded as Frank hugged Alice, Neville and Luna. Then they took out their wands and turned to go as Remus caught their attention while he used the Gemino charm to duplicate copies of the Champion's Night Vision Sunglasses. "Here, take these. They will be helpful to see your way around a dark Muggle graveyard and not attract attention to yourself." He said as gave them four pairs of the cool dark sunglasses and they left the Control room.

"Alice, come with me!" Augusta instructed. "Remus and Sirius, seal the doors after we go. Keep safe!"

"Go give them hell! Aggie!" Encouraged Lord Phineas Nigellus Black with his fellow portrait friends plus Fergus, the Sorting Hat as Fawkes sang a song to calm and cheer.

While Remus gave them a bag of twenty duplicate copies of the Champion's Night Vision Sunglasses. "These will help protect your eyes against the glare of spell fire and allow you to see at in the dark. They are conjured copies and should last a day or two."

Augusta put on a pair of the dark sunglasses and was impressed with what she could see through them. "Thank you, Remus. I always wanted a pair of these aviator style sunglasses since I saw them in the movies."

Alice gave Neville and Luna a big hug and kiss as she put on her cool night vision sunglasses, took out her wand and followed the old battleaxe that was her mother-in-law.

"Give them hell, mum!" Neville encouraged with a smile. "Have fun, Gran!"

Mum and Gran turned to show their cool dark sunglasses, their cheerful grin and a big both thumbs up salute which got a chuckle from those present. They were looking forward to this after their last battle against the Toad.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Ronald Bilius Weasley was in a very bad mood as he sat in the viewing stand with the only other Hogwarts student that shared his absolutely negative opinion of his former best friend and his Mudblood girlfriend. Unfortunately things had changed so much that his new best friend was his former life-long adversary and family nemesis, Draco Malfoy.

And as Gryffindor wouldn't tolerate Ronald's negative attitude, he was even sitting in the Slytherin Quidditch Viewing stand to watch the Third Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament along with the Slytherin and Durmstrang students who tried to completely ignore him.

On the other hand, Draco's anger at Potter was magnified as his former girlfriend, Pansy, had complained that when it came to dancing, Draco had two left feet and when she compared him to Perfect Potter, she said he had the grace of a drunken three-legged Hippogriff and the mean attitude to match. This little home truth wrinkled Draco's world view of Pure-blood superiority which had taken a big hit after that humongous Dragon, the very creature that had been named after him, had failed to kill that pathetic half-blood Potter. In fact Perfect Potter had outflown the dragon on its own turf. On top of this was the fact that the brightest witch of their age was that beautiful Mudblood, Granger.

To make matters worse Pansy had insisted that Draco must take remedial dance lessons. Draco couldn't believe that ridiculous demand as when he compared the dancing performance of Pansy to the talented and graceful Miss Granger, well he thought Pansy had the elegance and attitude of a blind Common Welsh Green Dragon. But to make matters even more terrible, Draco's godfather didn't dance, and so the only other professor prepared to teach him was, Professor McGonagall. Well, even you knew that that was never going to happen.

But if Draco could be truly honest with himself for once, he could understand why Perfect Potter was so good on the dance floor after witnessing him fly on that old Nimbus 2000 back in second year when they pursued the golden snitch through the wooden ribs of the Quidditch stands while being chased by that rogue iron Bludger. The Nimbus 2001 that his father had so graciously supplied to the Slytherin Quidditch team was supposed to be twice as fast as the old Nimbus 2000, and to ensure the safety of the Pure-blood heirs and heiress, they had been enchanted with every possible safety feature (except how to outfly a dragon), so that all you had to do was to hold on tight and point where you wanted to go and the broom would fly itself. But Perfect Potter had a bottom of the line, stock standard, basic model, Nimbus 2000 with absolutely no enhancements or safety features and yet he could fly rings around Draco. To be able to do that took an incredible amount of poise, grace, balance, and strength with an almost supernatural level of situation awareness of everything that is happening around you in all four dimensions at five hundred miles an hour.

Plus Draco knew that Perfect Potter's secret unknown power was the beautiful Miss Granger, and with her as his dance partner, Perfect Potter was unbeatable. For only the graceful Miss Granger could match him in every way with the same incredible amount of sassiness, chutzpah, poise, grace, balance, and strength, with an equal supernatural level of situation awareness, and do it all backwards, in a ball gown and high heels. If only he could have one dance with the adorable Miss Granger, then he knew he could show Pansy who could dance.

So our hero, Harry Potter, had unwittingly brought two former arch-nemeses together but not in a good way, and Draco's realisation of his growing feelings for the charming Miss Granger since she had got his attention with that punch on the nose, was a concern as that would not end well.

So the two disreputable comrades had just spent the last hour watching the dark green hedge of the maze and were thoroughly bored to tears after they had ran out of trying to top each other in all the different ways they absolutely hated Perfect Potter.

Ronald wouldn't have bothered to come but the headmaster had insisted, no the headmaster had actually ordered Ronald's presence as the headmaster was certain that what was left of his true appointed best friend would desperately need his friendship after the Third Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament was concluded. If he lived that is.

So Ronald had begrudgingly stayed as he had seen how much food the House-elves had prepared for the after party and they wouldn't let him sample even just a little bit of it.

Which Ronald thought was totally unfair of the house-elves and that sad disappointment added to his already extreme bad mood and rumbling stomach.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Elsewhere, Aunty Amelia Bones was sitting next to her niece, Susan, and her best friend, Hannah Abbot, in the Hufflepuff section of the Quidditch viewing stand watching the same dark green hedge of the maze, without a clue of what was happening inside. Even the higher viewing towers of the Quidditch stands didn't see much more across the top of the twenty foot tall maze as it had deep very narrow paths and did I mention that it was also night.

Madam Bones shook her head in frustration as this was so typical of how the manipulative old headmaster operated as he kept everyone in the dark while he and the maze kept their even darker secrets to ensure that only he could control the chaos he created.

Madam Bones could see that the headmaster had excelled himself this time in his preparation for the Third Task. To make room for the maze, he had repositioned the old oval shaped wooden Quidditch Viewing Stand and set it up in a straight line and moved it closer towards the castle which opened up a very large area between the viewing stand and the Forbidden Forest on the outer boundary of the grounds of Hogwarts. So that the enormous maze could back onto the forest. Then he moved the wooden arena that had been used for the dragons for the First Task, and set it up in a straight line at a right angle to the Quidditch Viewing stand to form an 'L' shape and the corner marked the entrance to the maze. The arena would be used by the Ministry of Magic and their guests, while the Quidditch Viewing stand would be for students and their guests. Also he had the viewing towers from the Black Lake that were used for the Second Task, moved and set up in the corners of the maze to act as watch towers with luxurious seating and refreshments for the rich members of the Wizengamot and he generously sold those tickets to his friends at a princely premium and future political favours.

The headmaster was always conscious for the protection of his Great-than-Merlin public image when he couldn't avoid the peril of getting caught for endangering students without the benefit of plausible deniability, so the headmaster had left a gap of one hundred and fifty feet between the hedge wall of the maze and the viewing stand. Just in case some cuddly misunderstood creatures accidentally went AWOL.

Madam Undersecretary Umbridge also saw an opportunity to make a lot of Gold with all the interest in the Tri-Wizard Tournament that the Quibbler had generated with its articles and coverage of the Yule Ball and the First and Second Tasks. She had instructed the Minister to have the giant viewing stands that had been used for the Quidditch World Cup the previous summer moved to Hogwarts and set up in a larger 'L' shape behind the old wooden stands. These stands were three time the height of the old Hogwarts stands and gave an excellent view over the top of the maze. Not that that helped. They also quadrupled the size of the viewing audience who paid a lot of gold for the opportunity to witness the event. While both Beauxbatons and Durmstrang had taken advantage of the event and had temporarily closed so their students could come and cheer for their champion.

On the shadier side, the interest in gambling on the outcome of the Tri-Wizard Tournament was sky high with Harry Potter the clear favourite. That meant that there was a delegation from Gringotts present there to ensure there was plenty of gold to be borrowed for betting. Harry's own account manager, Goldenclaw, had come to watch and had studied the results of the first and second task and knew that Mr Potter would not allow himself to win the third task alone. So Goldenclaw put all of his gold on a four way tie.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

While waiting, Aunty Amelia put the time to good use as she reminisced with her niece and enjoyed sharing the priceless memories of the excitement of the start of the Third Task when the courageous Headmistress of Beauxbatons had slammed together the heads of that interfering old fool Dumbledore and that foreign Death Eater Karkaroff. Then she expressed how she cheered inside as she re-enacted the swinging movement of the brave witch that had slapped that awfully unpleasant Toad and sent her cartwheeling straight through the Champion's entrance and to disappear into the maze. She remembered how Fudge had backed off and none dared go into the maze to find the Toad. She couldn't express how much she loved it when she gave the order to send Karkaroff and Dumbledore to St Mungo's Secure Section for injured suspects of the DMLE, and away from his precious castle.

Cheerfully Aunty Amelia was enjoying herself as she told Susan what had happened and was surprised when Susan replied. "Oh, that's nothing. Weird things always happen around Harry Potter."

And Susan took up the narrative with her friend, Hannah, and they started at the Second task and went backwards to the Yule Ball, the first task, and then the Champion selection by the Goblet of Fire on Halloween last year. Madam Bones was left speechless as she wondered how on earth did Dumbledore managed to keep all those scandals quiet with all the coverage from the malicious gossip that is the Daily Prophet. Susan wanted to go all the way back to first year and tell her Aunty the exhilarating tales of the Exciting Adventures of the Golden Couple, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter. But had only covered the events that had happened at Hogwarts only as far back to the Dementor attack on the Hogwarts Express at the beginning of third year when there was a loud gong and bright shower of fireworks over the centre of the maze to show that the Third Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament was over and the magical enhancements on the hedge of the maze that made it high, strong and dense started to dissolve into nothing.

A cheer went up as everyone started to celebrate but the question on everyone's mind was, who had won?

Then the dissolving hedge shook as all these weird crab like creatures and four giant Acromantulas along with a number of smaller Acromantulas came over the shrinking hedge to escape out of the maze. They were surprised how quickly the monsters scrambled across the Quidditch pitch towards the now screaming witches and wizards in the viewing stands.

Susan waved her hand at the creatures. "Yeah, this sort of thing happens around Harry Potter all the time."

"Damn! We really do need to find the time to talk some more, Susan." Madam Bones said as she stood up to take command of the situation as she knew that Dumbledore was not present. Not that he would have done anything useful anyway. In a commanding voice she cried. "Aurors to me!"

Hestia Jones stood next to Amelia and surveyed the danger. "Those Acromantulas are gigantic."

"Yes, obviously Dumbledore had really tried to make the maze as dangerous as possible for the Champions."

"Or for one champion in particular?" Senior Auror Jones questioned. "Did he expect those Acromantulas to escape once the hedge walls of the maze came down?"

"Probably, but he would cover his backside by blaming Mr Potter and then insist that the monsters were meant to return to the Forbidden Forest and not attack the obvious food source. Then he could demonstrate his awesome magical power to the sheeple and save them from the danger that his stupidity had created." Madam Bones reasoned.

"Plausible deniability, boss!" Jones chuckled as she replied. "You know the manipulative old fool too well."

Madam Bones chuckled.

"Bet he certainly didn't expect to be in St Mungo's tonight and away from his precious castle." Hestia smirked.

"No, he wouldn't have expected that, but we still would have had to clean up his mess anyway."

"I wish Tiny Tim was here."

Amelia chuckled. "Yes, the White Ghost Team would have made short work of them but we must limit their use or Dumbledore and the Pure-blood bigots will discover what they really are and sadly the old fool would lamentably forbid us from using Muggle made aids and so not upset the sensitivities of the Pure-blood bigots when they are caught."

"Armchair Fusspots." Hestia responded. "Have you seen Moody?"

"Not yet, but he should be here soon. I can't see him missing this bit of fun."

"No, he wouldn't miss this, but earlier did he seem a little strange to you?"

"Yeah, a little stranger than usual. But he has been stuck in the castle with Dumbledore all year."

"That would do it."

Amelia and Hestia smiled as Augusta and Alice Longbottom arrived to offer their help but Amelia had wished that Augusta had brought her brother, Algernon Croaker, the head of the Unspeakables, and that he had summoned his Unspeakables SWAT team. The Silent Wizard Aggressive Tactical team would have been very helpful against the Acromantulas while the headmaster was out of action. Then again she really didn't want the headmaster to interfere and make the situation all about himself.

"What's the plan, Amelia?" Augusta asked as she smiled to see the witches and wizards coming together to help each other.

"I have these emergency Portkeys that will transport the creatures back into the Forbidden Forest. We just need to get close enough to stick them on the Acromantulas and whatever those crab things are." Amelia explained as she held up a large plastic bag of Funsize Mars Bars.

"Oh, Mars Bars. Lily loved them." Alice said as she reached for the innocent looking sweets and Madam Bones pulled them away from Alice.

"Careful, I wouldn't touch them unless you wanted a one way trip to the Forbidden Forest." Madam Bones warned.

"Probably just what the headmaster intended." Aggie snorted at the headmaster's fixation on Muggle sweets and unfortunate accidents. Then she opened her bag of dark sunglasses. "Here, try these. They are duplicate copies of the Champion's Night Vision Sunglasses."

Aggie handed a pair to Amelia who put them on.

"Wow, I can see like it is day." Amelia said. "You say Champions' Sunglasses?"

"Yes, they are duplicate copies of what the Champions used to see in the maze and they are enchanted with runes to give them night vision and will help protect your eyes against the glare of spell fire. They are conjured copies and should last a day or two."

"Magical copies? These are brilliant. I might make them standard issue." Amelia said as she handed a pair to Hestia Jones who was also impressed.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Minister of Magic, Cornelius O. Fudge had been entertaining his very important rich guests in the function room of the Arena Viewing stand. Well mainly letting them get drunk on cheap spirits and wine while telling them about all the great things he had done.

He had heard the cheer and saw the fireworks that signalled the end of the Third Task.

"Ah, very good. The fireworks signal the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Please follow me." The Minister encouraged his guess. "Please come to welcome the successful Champion who should be Portkeyed to the entrance of the maze right now."

But as he walked out of the doors and on to the Quidditch pitch and headed for the entrance to the maze, he heard the cheers turn into screams and his first thought was; "Sweet Merlin! What has that silly little boy done now?"

Then the Ministerial Protection Detail swung into action and the lead Auror announced. "Sorry, Minister. The Acromantulas that were in the maze are escaping and are heading this way. We must get you to safety."

They then grabbed the Minister and bundled him away leaving the very important rich guests just standing there in the middle of the Quidditch pitch. His protection detail locked the Minister in a water closet inside the Arena stand and stood guard outside. While his guests rushed back inside and then made their way to the roof to watch the show.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Sir Nicholas sounded the charge on his old battered bugle as he led the Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions' Cavalry through the dissolving maze and towards the sound of screaming witches and wizards. He hadn't led a good charge since he had died and the mean nasty leaders of the Headless Hunt wouldn't let him join in. This was the most excitement he had had in the last five hundred years. He could see the outer wall of the maze had dissolved enough for his charger to clear it in one bound and he pointed her head directly for it as his trusty steed adjusted her stride to jump the collapsing hedge wall.

DobbyCam and KreacherCam were following the charge with KreacherCam behind and above to capture view of Sir Nicholas and the Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions charging through the corpse of the maze and to see the Quidditch viewing stands in the background. While DobbyCam was in front to capture the view looking back at the charge to see all five at once and then moving in for their close ups to see the excited and determined faces of Sir Nicholas, Harry, Fleur, Cedric and Viktor. Fortunately DobbyCam was agile and nimble enough on his hoverboard to hop and clear the hedge wall as he was travelling backwards but he still got the spectacular shot of the Champions jumping over the remains of the outer wall of the maze and captured the sound of the thunder of the hooves of the silver stags. While the camera movement as Dobby hopped to clear the maze wall gave you the feeling of jumping the hedge with the Champions while your stomach bottomed out.

Sir Nicholas reeled them to the right as they charged along the remains of the outer wall of the maze and thundered directly into the fray.

Harry saw how close the Acromantulas were to the viewing stand where Hermione was and urged his stag to go faster while the other Champions tried their damnedest to keep up.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Ronald Bilius was a worried little wizard as he was slowly wasting away with hunger while he waited for the Third Task to end, when there was a loud gong and bright shower of fireworks to show that the Third Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament was over and the Hedge of the maze started to dissolve into nothing.

The Slytherin and Durmstrang students gave a massive cheer in the hope that their champion, Viktor Krum, had won.

"Finally!" Ronald said loudly as he stood up to make his way to the entrance of the maze where the headmaster would be waiting. He was actually looking forward to the lying little git apologising to him for abandoning and ignoring his true best mate.

Then the screams started and Ronald looked up and saw all these weird crab like creatures and then he froze as he saw four giant Acromantulas along with a number of smaller ones escape out of the maze and scrambled very quickly across the pitch heading directly towards him as he was trapped high up in the Slytherin Quidditch viewing stand.

One thing Ronald greatly feared more than missing a meal was spiders. Especially gigantic spiders from the Forbidden Forest. He still had nightmares after he had saved Potter, the ungrateful tosser, from the Acromantulas in second year with his father's flying car.

All Ronald Bilius could think was that all his worst nightmares were coming true and he was going to die a very quick painful death in the Slytherin Viewing stand and miss all the glorious food at the after party.

And he knew how quick the Acromantulas could scramble and how good they were at climbing wooden structures from previous experience.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Madam Bones, Longbottom and Jones looked at each other as they heard a bugle sound the charge and suddenly these glowing silver stags leaped over the remains of the hedge with riders on their back, and charged towards the Acromantulas while the Castle played Ride of the Valkyries.

Susan stood up to point at the charging glowing silver stags. "Look! Here comes Harry now!"

"How can you tell?"

"The silver stags! That's his Patronus!" Susan replied. "He used it against all those Dementors last year!"

"Is that what happened to all those Dementors?" Madam Bones questioned.

"Yeah! And he is not alone! Go HARRY! **YAY!** **YAHOO!** _ **CEDRIC!**_ _ **"**_

"Susan! Proper ladies don't yahoo!" Aunty Amelia corrected as she saw the glowing stags that the four champions were riding. Her magical monocle helped her to concentrate her focus to see the devil-may-care grin on Harry's face that reminded her so much of James Potter and she had felt a little flutter as the silver stags charged over the remains of the hedge that seemed to calm the fearful witches as their screams started to turn into cheers. Hogwarts was never this exciting when she was a student, even with the Marauders running around.

Susan replied to her aunt. "Proper ladies don't get to watch Harry Potter in action."

Aunty Amelia turned to Susan and gave her that look.

"Aw, Aunty, Harry is here, so we are perfectly safe!"

Amelia raised one eyebrow.

"But Harry is younger than me and the headmaster lets him play with Basilisks, Dementors and Dragons!"

"I shall be discussing that with the headmaster when he recovers and if Harry Potter jumped off the Astronomy Tower would that mean that you could do that too?"

Susan gave her Aunty a winning smile. "Oh, can I? Harry already did that last year."

Hannah added. "He doubled Hermione Granger on the back of a Hippogriff when the Minister had all his Dementors here!"

"It was during the full moon and they flew around the castle." Susan continued as she and Hannah finished together with a sigh. "It was so romantic!"

Madam Bones just shook her head at the headmaster's cavalier attitude to protecting his students but she still needed to protect her last family member more. "I am sorry, Susan, while we are still on the grounds of Hogwarts and within the limited outer boundary wards, we are outside the more powerful wards that surround and protect the castle."

"It's so not fair!" Susan said disappointedly as she dutifully called her elf and blew her Aunty a kiss as she disappeared back to the safety of the Bones Manor called the Ossuary with her best friend Hannah.

As Madam Bones waited a moment as her Aurors rushed to her side, she took out the large plastic bag of Funsize Mars Bars emergency Portkeys and used her wand to set the destination to a location five miles away where she assumed was the center of the Forbidden Forest. She had demanded that Dumbledore make the Portkeys for her to use inside the grounds of Hogwarts as soon as she had discovered what was going to be inside the maze for the Third Task and she wouldn't leave his office until he had made them while she noted what he did.

Madam Bones watched as the mounted ghost of Sir Nicholas on his silver charger in front blowing his bugle as the four champions charged in. Harry's silver stag caught one of the crab like creatures with his antlers and threw it at the closest giant spider as the three other champions fired blasting hexes at the creatures. Harry's stag threw another crab like creature at the spider and forced the spider to start to fight both crab like creatures as the champions cleared a path between the escaping creatures from the maze and the Quidditch Viewing stands full of the formerly screaming and now cheering witches and wizards. They charged again as the Acromantulas trampled what was left of the maze and opened up a large area that became the battlefield. Slowly, they started to force the creatures back towards the maze and the Forbidden Forrest on the other side.

Madam Bones didn't notice her sneaky little niece and friend pop back with her elf as she gathered her Aurors and the Longbottoms, and led their charge towards the Quidditch pitch as they rushed to reinforce the champions.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Ronald's mind may have frozen but his fear had involuntarily released other parts of his bodily functions, as he watched in absolute terror as the giant Acromantulas scrambled directly towards him in the Slytherin viewing stands.

Draco noticed a pungent smell and turned to see that Weasley was frozen with fear. His first reaction was to push the disgusting odour away and, unfortunately, that started Weasley's fall from the top of the Slytherin Viewing stand.

Then they heard a bugle sound the charge and suddenly these glowing silver stags leaped over the remains of the hedge with riders on their back, and charged towards the Acromantulas while the Castle played Ride of the Valkyries.

The Acromantulas had almost reached the viewing stand full of screaming witches and wizards when a silver stag cut them off and threw at weird crab like creature into the leading Acromantula causing it to turn away and fight the crab like creature. Slowly the giant spiders were stopped and then forced back as the crowd ooh and ah once they had stopped screaming and watched in awe at the sight of the fearless rider on the nimble surefooted silver stag dancing with the eight leg monsters while the other Champions closed in to fire a covering barrage of curses at the terrible creatures as the light from the glowing silver stags illuminated the battlefield.

Again and again the Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions' Cavalry courageously charged the fearsome Acromantulas and pushed them back as Ronald Bilius raised his head from where he was lying at the bottom seats of the Slytherin Viewing stand.

"Bloody show-off git." He hissed to himself.

But Ronald never spoke quietly and the Slytherin students near to him took great offence to his words.

"Harry is trying to save us you miserable useless little tosser!" Daphne Greengrass hissed as she pulled her fist back and punched the idiot in the eye. "Unlike you and your useless manipulative headmaster! This is all his fault!"

Following the example of her best friend, Tracy Davis pulled back her fist and blacken the other eye while Vincent Crabbe broke Ronald's nose and then helped Gregory Goyle to eject the miserable ingrate from the Slytherin Viewing stands and on to the Quidditch pitch where, fortunately, Ronald landed on his thick posterior with a thud.

Unfortunately for Ronald's posterior, it landed on a stinger that had been broken off from one of the weird crab like creatures and that sent a bolt of excruciating pain shooting through his aforementioned posterior.

Fortunately, for Ronald the shock of the pain caused him to collapse into oblivion.

Unfortunately, for Ronald, he was lying on the edge of the Quidditch pitch that had now turned into a battlefield full of Acromantulas and crab like creatures where his only protection was the Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions' Cavalry that he had so despicably disparaged.

Fortunately, for Ronald, he was found by a professor before an Acromantula found him.

Unfortunately, for Ronald, that professor was the undercover Death Eater Professor Moody aka Barty Crouch junior, who had been very concerned that Potter had failed to touch the Tri-Wizard Tournament Trophy and be Portkeyed away to his master. So he had come to try and kidnap the Ingrate-Boy-Who-Will-Die and deliver him to the graveyard using his own personal emergency Portkey.

Unfortunately for Barty, Potter had been surrounded by the other Champions and Acromantulas, and it was too dangerous to kidnap him with the risk of getting eaten.

Fortunately, for Barty, he had captured Potter's best friend, the Red-dunderhead, whom he had mistakenly assumed would be helpful in his attempt to kidnap the Boy-Who-Must-Die.

Unfortunately, for Ronald, he was going to be used as bait and then be eliminated in front of Boy-Who-Will-Die as the unwanted spare.

 _\- Harry Potter,_ _I will never make her cry again_ _. -_

Senior Auror Hestia Jones took charge to supply the dark night vision sunglasses to the Aurors as they assembled at Madam Bones summons. She also gave pairs to Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout and Snape and explained what the sunglasses were but not where they came from.

"This way, Aurors!" Madam Bones commanded as they moved out.

Along the way down from the viewing stands to the Quidditch pitch battlefield where the Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions were fighting the Acromantulas, Madam Bones noticed the Professors, older students and adult witches and wizards starting to follow them and it warmed the bottom of her heart to see their response. She paused for a moment to instruct them.

"Protect the children! You are the last line of defence!"

"None shall pass!"

A determined Professor McGonagall hissed as she turned back to organise the Last Line of Defence of the students with her cool dark night vision sunglasses.

The Professors, older students, adult witches and wizards took courage from the words of the two old witches and Madam Bones could see the message in their eyes that they would do everything possible to ensure that no creature would pass them. Professor McGonagall gave her orders and they started to move to defensive positions around the viewing stands to protect the children.

KreacherCam from his high overview position had spotted the movement in the Quidditch Viewing stands and flew over on his hover board to capture the action of Professor McGonagall arranging the defence of the children and then followed Madam Bones and her Aurors onto the battlefield that been the Quidditch pitch.

 _\- Harry Potter,_ _I will never make her cry again_ _. -_

Moaning Myrtle had been monitoring the Third Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament just as she had done for the Second Task and had seen the aftermath and courageous battle led by her favourite Champion, Harry, and the other Tri-Wizard Champions in their heroic attempt to stop the escaping Acromantulas from attacking the viewing stands full of students and adults. She saw the opportunity to help Harry save Hogwarts as this battle was not under the restrictions of, and controlled by the Goblet of Fire. She quickly returned to the castle to summon her fellow ghosts to help Harry. She first found the Grey Lady, the Ghost of Ravenclaw, and explained the situation.

Together, Moaning Myrtle and the Grey Lady found Sir Waldo, the Bloody Baron, the Ghost of Slytherin, but the cunning ghost was reluctant to help a Gryffindor for nothing. However as this was the first time his beloved Helena had spoken to him in a millennium, so he had come up with a cunningly devised plan to trick her into doing this together.

"Why should a Slytherin help a Gryffindor?" He sneered.

The Grey Lady screamed at the Bloody Baron. "Get your butt out there and help Harry! He is trying to save and protect all students including Slytherins!"

"Only if you come with me!" The Bloody Baron yelled back.

The Grey Lady was so worked up that she screamed. "Fine! Now, go get Peeves as well! Move your butt!"

"Yes, dear!" The Bloody Baron smirked.

"Don't call me dear!" The Grey Lady shot back.

"Yes, my sweetness!"

"Or sweetness!"

"Certainly, my angel of the morning." The Bloody Baron grinned.

"Huff!"

The unamused Grey Lady stamped her foot as she grabbed Moaning Myrtle's hand and stormed off to the Quidditch Pitch and passed the Fat Friar who had overheard the loud argument and had decided to follow. Moaning Myrtle giggled at the sparring between the two ancient ghosts while a happy Bloody Baron quickly found Peeves.

"Lock and load, Peeves, we are going in hot!" The Bloody Baron ordered the poltergeist. "And bring everything you have got! Even the stuff I don't know about. We have students to protect at the Quidditch Pitch!"

Peeves smirked as if he had just received all his Xmases at once. The twins had just given him their latest shipment of goodies for use for the after-party to celebrate the conclusion of the Tri-Wizard Tournament and he rushed off to collect all the little surprises that he had been saving for years, even from before the Marauders.

All loaded up with everything he had, Peeves hissed with a maniacal grin. "Showtime!" As he rushed out of the castle heading for the Quidditch Pitch.

While in the Marauder's Control Room, Fergus, the Sorting Hat, was watching all this unfold on the large screen monitors, and felt that Mr Potter might need his help again. He turned to Fawkes. "The game's afoot, my dear old friend. Time to have some fun!"

Fawkes cheered as he hopped over to the Sorting Hat and flamed away before Hermione realised that they were going to help Harry. She was beside herself with worry and wanted to go and help her boyfriend but Sirius and Moony had locked the door to their control room.

 _\- Harry Potter,_ _I will never make her cry again_ _. -_

DobbyCam stayed with Harry and followed all the action with the Cavalry as Sir Nicholas was marshalling the Champions for another charge, when the Ghosts of Hogwarts arrived to join the fight for their Castle. The Slytherin House Ghost, the Bloody Baron, landed behind Sir Nicholas on his charger. "Well done my old friend. Room for another sword?"

Sir Nicholas looked over his shoulder to the ghost who was covered in silver bloodstains. "Very kind of you to offer, Sir Waldo."

The least talkative of the house ghosts, the Grey Lady of Ravenclaw House, landed behind Fleur on her stag and hugged her tight as she whispered. "Don't worry, I have got your back. Vive la France!"

"Witch Power!" Fleur whispered back as she smiled at the encouragement while the Grey Lady was ready to scream like a banshee if it helped frighten the Acromantulas back to the Forbidden Forest.

The Hufflepuff house ghost, the Fat Friar, landed behind Cedric and wrapped one cold arm around his waist. "Well done, my dear Cedric. Hufflepuff is so proud of you. Let's go get those Acromantulas, we won't forget and we won't forgive them for their despicable attack."

"Thanks, Fats, let's go get them." Cedric smiled.

A grinning Moaning Myrtle landed behind Harry and wrapped her cold arms around his waist as she gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Miss me, Harry?"

Harry was too embarrassed and only nodded to Myrtle as she snuggled into Harry's back and let out her infectious mischievous giggle.

Then a flash of flames signalled the arrival of a certain phoenix who happened to be holding a certain sorting hat in his talons.

"Ah, Mr Potter." Fergus the sorting hat said. "Thought you might be needing this again."

Harry smiled as he reached up and pulled out the Sword of Gryffindor from within the hovering sorting hat. The sword glowed blue at Harry's touch and he could feel its power.

"Thank you, Fergus." Harry smiled as waved the sword around to get its balance again. "This will be very helpful."

"You're welcome, Mr Potter." Fergus replied.

"Does it always glow blue?" Harry asked.

"Not since the time of the Founders, but as the castle is experiencing a time of great joy and love thanks to you and Miss Granger. So like the castle is glowing, so to is the sword and has become supercharged."

"Oh?" Harry wondered what that meant and then asked. "Enjoying your time out of the castle?"

"Yes, especially with the headmaster unfortunately away." Fergus smiled as Fawkes dropped the hat on Harry's head. "Now, let's go kick some Acromantula butt!"

Then Peeves the poltergeist, arrived with a bin full of water bombs, stink bombs and some unknown creations of the Twins and the Marauders. He floated behind and above Viktor.

"Peeves is present, armed and ready for action, Sir!" Peeves said as he saluted Sir Nicholas.

Fawkes flew overhead, singing a song of encouragement and to keep overwatch as he informed Fergus, the Sorting Hat, where the next counter-attack by the Acromantulas was massing.

"Sir Nicholas, Fawkes reports that the Acromantulas are massing on the left flank." Fergus passed the intelligence onto Sir Nicholas to lead the charge.

Sir Nicholas stood up on his charger to see. "By Merlin, Fawkes is right. This way my dear friends!"

Sir Nicholas' eyes gleamed with pride as he blew his old battered bugle and led the Champions with the hat and Ghosts in another charge over the trampled maze and at the mass of Acromantulas. They fired their curses while the ghosts screamed and slashed as their nimble stags dodged and avoided the fangs and waving long hairy legs of the giant spiders and the crab like creatures.

Peeves swooped in to hit them with his water and stink bombs as well as all the special ordinance he had received and or confiscated from the Twins, the Marauders and every other never-do-well and miscreant who had walked the halls of Hogwarts. As you can imagine it made a big stinking mess with some of the Acromantulas and those crab like creatures transforming into giant yellow canaries, iridescent green flamingos, hot pink dodos and an ultraviolet aardvark of the same size as the original creature.

 _\- Harry Potter,_ _I will never make her cry again_ _. -_

KreacherCam followed Madam Bones as she valiantly led her Aurors and the Longbottoms into the fray to reinforce the courageous Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions' Cavalry. But she was very annoyed with the crafty headmaster as he had made the Funsize Mars Bar emergency Portkeys with a little twist, so that only Madam Bones could use them.

"Aurors, the headmaster has supplied these sticky Muggle sweets emergency Portkeys but only I can use them." Madam Bones explained as she showed them the large plastic bag of Funsize Mars Bars. "That means that I have to get close and personal with the monsters and I am too old to use a broom in battle."

That got a laugh from her Aurors until she added. "So, you are all coming with me!"

That got their attention so Madam Bones gave her commands. "Aurors! Form two rows, four abreast, wands forward! Aggie and Alice, you guard our rear. Jones, Proudfoot and Robards, be ready with extra shield and banishing charms, Fudge won't pay for dry cleaning!" That got a chuckle from her Aurors who were half-bloods or Muggle-borns, and calmed the nerves of the younger ones in the front row. "Forward now and keep it tight. Prepare to fire Bombarda, Confringo and Expulso curses whichever you are best at, but be very careful where you are aiming. Be ready to fire on my command."

Madam Bones had formed her Aurors into a tight Phalanx with their wands pointing forward for protection and to concentrate their firepower as they moved across the Quidditch pitch and onto the trampled corpse of the maze which had become their battlefield. The youngest Aurors were in the front row with the older Aurors behind to encourage and protect them. Then Madam Bones was in the centre with Augusta and Alice covering the rear while the Castle played the 1812 overture with real canons.

A giant Acromantula noticed the brave band of Aurors and charged while some smaller Acromantulas followed for an easy meal.

" _ **FIRE!"**_

Screamed Madam Bones when she could see the spider's eight eyes.

The Aurors screamed.

" _ **BOMBARDA!"**_

" _ **CONFRINGO!"**_

" _ **EXPULSO"**_

And the battlefield was lit up with the different coloured spell fire and the Aurors could clearly see how big the black fangs were on this dark-haired Acromantula.

" _ **FIRE AGAIN!"**_

And the Aurors cheerfully unleashed hell with all of their might on the giant spider firing their favourite destructive curses while the senior Aurors also added shield and banishing charms to prevent the icky sticky mess from ruining their Auror robes and keeping the ground in front of them from becoming slippery with Acromantula's guts.

After five broadsides the giant Acromantula was stopped in its tracks, and Madam Bones was close enough to launch a Funsize Mars Bar emergency Portkey at the wounded spider and it spun away as the Aurors gave a brief cheer while Augusta and Alice fired together to obliterate a few smaller Acromantulas that had been foolishly enough to try and flank them to attack their rear.

"That's one! Good work! Forward! New target!" Madam Bones ordered her phalanx as they grew in confidence and teamwork. She turned to Augusta. "These sunglasses are extraordinary, Aggie. They automatically compensate for the bright spell fire and we can still see in the dark."

"Yes, they are brilliant." Aggie said as she and Alice took aim at a sneaky small Acromantula that was trying to hide in the shadows.

" _ **BOMBARDA MAXIMA!"**_ The two Longbottom Witches screamed together.

The small five foot Acromantula disappeared into mist as the twin spell fire lit up the battlefield.

 _\- Harry Potter,_ _I will never make her cry again_ _. -_

Fawkes sang to the hat who told Harry. "My dear boy, over in the centre of the battlefield, Madam Bones and her Aurors have the emergency Portkeys she forced the old fool to make. The Portkeys can be used to send the monsters back into the Forbidden Forest."

"Finally someone made the headmaster do something good and useful." Harry smirked "What do we need to do?"

"Herd these monsters in Madam Bones' direction, a few at a time!" Fergus replied.

"Okay!" Harry said as he turned to their fearless leader to explain in a voice loud enough for the other champions to hear."Sir Nicholas, in the center of the battlefield. Madam Bones has emergency Portkeys. The headmaster made them so they will sent the Acromantulas back to the Forbidden Forest."

The Champions turned to watch as the second giant Acromantula attacked the Auror phalanx. Their hellfire stopped the monster in its tracks before the Champions saw it spin away and disappear.

"We need to herd the Acromantulas towards the Aurors' phalanx!" Harry said.

"By Merlin, that will stop them from coming back!" Sir Nicholas observed.

"This way, my dear friends! Once more into the breach!" Sir Nicholas encouraged as he blew his battered old bugle to lead them on another charge.

 _\- Harry Potter,_ _I will never make her cry again_ _. -_

Again and again Madam Bones' brave Auror phalanx engaged the Acromantulas and weird crab like creatures, plus the giant yellow canaries, iridescent green flamingos, hot pink dodos and an ultra violet aardvark which were as big as the creatures that they were transfigured from, and fired broadsides after broadsides into the monsters while the Champions regrouped for another charge. From the center, Madam Bones banished a Portkey onto the creatures as they got close enough and to send them spinning away. While Augusta and Alice cheerfully annihilated anything that tried to flank them.

 _\- Harry Potter,_ _I will never make her cry again_ _. -_

One very angry Acromantula charged too close to the Champions and almost knocked Harry off his stag with its long hairy legs but Harry slashed at the leg with the glowing Sword of Gryffindor and it sang as it cut off the hairy leg. The sword went through it like a hot knife through butter. Then the Acromantulas screamed as they avoided the glowing blade and the brave knight who wielded it.

"Well done, Mr Potter." Fergus encouraged. "You have their attention now."

"Thank you, Fergus." Harry replied. "That was close enough to knock you off my head."

"And we wouldn't want that!" Fergus chuckled. "But you do realise that the Sword of Gryffindor is a magical sword don't you?"

"What do you mean?" Harry wondered. "Can I cast magic with it?"

"Of course, Godric had the Goblins make the sword and then he added the magical core of feathers and a tail from a Griffin. He needed something more than a wand and the sword was way cooler than a big stick. Besides what need does a wizard have for a plain old sword when he has a wand? In the hands of an heir of Gryffindor like you, the sword can draw magical power from the nexus that Hogwarts is built on, and that will magnify the magical power of the wielder." Fergus explained.

"Oh?"

"You had lost your own wand to Riddle in the Chamber, so why do you think I gave the sword to you for? To stab the Basilisk?" Fergus chuckled.

"Oooh?" Harry said as he remembered what he did last time he had been given the sword. "Oops!"

"What did you do, Mr Potter?" Fergus asked fearfully and then he saw into Harry's mind to what had happened. "Bloody hell, Mr Potter! You killed Blinky!"

"Sorry!"

"You only had to cast a stunner with that sword and it would have knocked out Blinky for a week."

"Oh? Sorry. Nobody told me."

"She was a thousand years old, Mr Potter!"

"I am really so sorry." Harry said sheepishly.

"Fawkes said that Blinky had gone to sleep." Fergus said as he wondered. "I suppose sleeping is the same as death for a phoenix."

"Oh?"

"How did you possibly stab her, her magically resistant hide must have been at least three inches thick!"

"She tried to eat me and I accidentally pushed to sword through the top of her mouth." Harry explained.

"Really? You were inside Blinky's mouth?"

Harry nodded as he subconsciously rubbed his arm where the fang had gone through and saw the shocked looks on the faces of Cedric, Fleur and Viktor.

"The rumours were true?" Asked Cedric. "You killed the Basilisk with a sword without using magic!"

Harry nodded again as he lowered his head.

"Bloody Hell!" Whispered Cedric, Fleur, Viktor, Moaning Myrtle, Helena, Sir Waldo and Sir Nicholas together.

"Oh, well, now we will have go and get another Basilisk." Fergus moaned. "They take centuries to train. The headmaster has really kept you in the dark."

"Tell me about it. Where will you get another Basilisk from?" Harry asked.

"From the Forbidden Forest. The three other Basilisks that he had bred for the other founders escaped after Salazar Slytherin left the castle."

"There are three Basilisks living in the Forbidden Forest?"

"Yes, the forest has been forbidden for a very long time. I wonder if Sally would like the job?"

"Who is Sally?" Harry asked warily.

"Blinky's big sister. Hopefully she will be happy to take Blinky's place." Fergus decided. "It would be Sally's job to go and clear out the Acromantula colony after this attack!"

"Oh?"

"You, of course, will be needed to help train her."

"Okay?" Harry said as he knew he didn't have a choice.

"Well we will need to talk some more and improve on your knowledge, Mr Potter." Fergus said. "Now, you just need to point the sword like a wand and blast away! But gently, it is a rather powerful magical artefact and as an heir, you too can draw magic from the nexus of Hogwarts to give you stamina and endurance."

"Er?" Harry said as he chose a giant Acromantula about one hundred feet away and pointed the sword at its fangs and used a hex Hermione had taught him to use for the dragon. "Bombarda Maxima!"

Harry felt a little different as his wand always seemed to try and restrict his magic. But with the Sword of Gryffindor, he felt his magic flow free into the sword and then the sword itself pushed back into his hand like he had just turned on a fire hose as the sword recoiled and released an almighty magical power surge as a blinding white light lit up the battlefield as it hissed towards the poor hapless spider.

Followed by a very loud.

" _ **BADABOOM!"**_

That echoed around the Quidditch pitch as the poor giant twenty-five foot spider disappeared in a gory mist and left a crater where it once had been.

"Protego! Bloody Hell! Harry!" Cedric shouted as he put up a shield to cover them all. "A little warning next time?"

"Bloody Hell!" Harry whispered to himself as he looked at the sword in his hand. "Sorry!"

"Well it is a very powerful magical artefact that is connected to an extremely powerful nexus, Mr Potter!" Fergus chuckled. "And you are a very powerful wizard and your connection to the nexus will give you great endurance."

"I think I shall stick to stunners!"

"A wise choice, Mr Potter."

"Stupefy!" Gently spoke Harry as he pointed the sword at another giant Acromantula some one hundred and fifty feet away. The sword recoiled as the bright red light of the curse lit up the battlefield as it hissed towards its target. Fortunately the giant spider didn't explode but it was thrown back and landed upside down with its long hairy legs in the air. Completely stunned and unmoving.

"Great shot, Harry!" The Champions said. "Do it again!"

The hunter had become the hunted as Harry looked at the stunned spider and then the glowing sword in his hand and a little part of Harry wished that his cousin Dudley was here as he smiled. Nothing was going to stop him from protecting his Hermione and giving her the future she deserved.

This new development allowed the Champions to change their tactics from certain death charges as they went on the offence and started to actively hunt down the Acromantulas. Which was a great development as there seemed to be more of the gigantic spiders than when they had started. It was like they grew on trees.

Viktor, who had been on hunting trips spoke. "Sir Nicholas, you take point with Sir Waldo. Harry, you're directly behind Sir Nicholas and stun anything that moves. Cedric and Fleur, you're on the flanks with me to cover Harry's back. And Harry, no more dancing, just stun the schweinhunds! Stun them all!"

The Champions nodded as they moved into position while Fawkes told them where to go and Sir Nicholas blew his trusty bugle for another charge. Harry stunned as many Acromantulas as he could with the Sword of Gryffindor while Cedric, Fleur and Viktor were following behind flanking him to protect his back and using their combine fire power to stun or obliterate any sneaky smaller Acromantulas.

 _\- Harry Potter,_ _I will never make her cry again_ _. -_

Again and again Madam Bones Auror phalanx continued to engage the Acromantulas and all the other weird colourful creatures, when there was an enormous flash followed by a loud.

" _ **BADABOOM!"**_

Echoed around the Quidditch pitch.

"Bloody Hell!" One of the rookie Aurors shouted as they turned to see a smoking crater. "What was that?"

"Harry Potter!" Madam Bones said with a smirk as she had seen what had happened with her enchanted monocle.

 _\- Harry Potter,_ _I will never make her cry again_ _. -_

The result of the destruction of a giant spider had an immediate effect as the Acromantulas were not stupid and they would back off from the knight with the glowing sword as Harry stunned everything while the others spiders tried to flank the Champions. Slowly the creatures were herded away from the viewing stands and back towards the Auror phalanx and the Forbidden Forest.

To make matters worse, the sound of battle and the smell of vaporised essence of Acromantula had attracted the attention of a lot of younger hot-headed giant Acromantulas who were not happy that the arrogant headmaster had captured some of their kind for use in his silly Tri-Wizard Tournament. They came out of the Forbidden Forest looking for a fight and charged onto the battlefield surprised that the Outer Wards of Hogwarts had not prevented them.

Fawkes continued to fly overhead, singing a song of encouragement and keeping an overwatch as he informed Fergus, the Sorting Hat, where the next counter attack was massing.

Fergus passed the intelligence on in a loud voice. "Fawkes is singing that the Acromantulas are massing on the right flank, Sir Nicholas!"

"By Merlin, I see them!" Sir Nicholas observed. "There are more of them!"

"Stupid insane headmaster!" Fergus whispered.

"This way, my dear friends!" Sir Nicholas cried as he blew his battered old bugle to lead them on another charge.

As Harry charged after the courageous ghost, he wondered. "I don't know why the headmaster allows these monsters to live in the Forbidden Forest so near the castle."

"Well, they are not a threat to the headmaster." Fergus replied.

"But what about the children?" Harry protested.

"Well, the children are not a threat to the headmaster either. Except maybe for you." Fergus chuckled. "And the headmaster did forbid any students from entering the Forbidden Forest."

"Why am I a threat to the headmaster?" Harry asked.

"Well, with the Sword of Gryffindor, you are far more powerful than the headmaster, even when he had his fabled Elder Wand." Fergus replied. "And he so disappointed he couldn't wield the sword as he is not an heir. Then he was really upset when the sword magically returned to its scabbard after your need for it had passed."

"The headmaster fears me? He is insane!"

"Indeed!"

"But it explains a lot."

 _\- Harry Potter,_ _I will never make her cry again_ _. -_

Then the Auror phalanx warily approached a giant Acromantula that was on its back and unmoving.

"Is that dead?" A young rookie in the front row asked.

Senior Auror Jones cast a Revelio charm at it. "No, it is just stunned!"

"Bloody Hell! Who can do that to one of those monsters?" Another rookie asked.

"Harry Potter." Answered Jones. "Didn't you see that bright red flash?"

"Bloody Hell! Was that what he did?"

"Well, it makes our job easier. Stack the other smaller stunned Acromantulas on top of the largest one with sticking charms and we will send them away with one Portkey." Madam Bones commanded as they stacked the smaller spiders on top as she banished a Portkeyed at the giant stunned Acromantula on the bottom and they all spun away.

 _\- Harry Potter,_ _I will never make her cry again_ _. -_

Harry's voice soon became sore so he tried to cast the stunners silently with just the thought in his mind. He found he could cast more quicker and just as powerful.

But the Acromantulas could scramble away almost as fast as their silver stags just like they did when they chased Mr Weasley's flying car, so Harry had to be quick to stun them before they turned and scrambled away. The giant Acromantulas were easier to stun but the smaller one were a more difficult moving target while riding his brave silver stag.

Twice, a giant Acromantula turned and ran away and the audience witnessed the sight of a thirty foot monster spider scrambling hell for leather with tiny silver stags running it down as Sir Nicholas, Sir Waldo, Peeves, Fats, the Grey Lady and Moaning Myrtle cheerfully screamed for it to cease and desist.

Fergus sang out. "Yippee-ki-yay, ride um cowboy!"

"Stupefy!" Harry thought as he took aim.

A bright red flash sent the scrambling gigantic Acromantula cartwheeling into other stunned spiders like a giant bowling ball.

"You are having way too much fun, Fergus!" Harry commented.

"I have never had so much fun, Mr Potter!" Fergus replied. "Not in a thousand years!"

Fawkes sang to Fergus and he spoke to Harry. "Madam Bones is running out of Portkeys."

"What can we do? The headmaster isn't here to make any more?" Harry wondered.

"You could use the sword to make them as you are an heir."

"Oh?"

"The headmaster keeps his stash of Muggle sweets inside me. Just reach inside and pull out two bags of the Funsize Mars Bars and let Fawkes hold them in his talons as you use the sword to make them into emergency Portkeys."

"Okay." Harry said as he lifted up the sorting hat on his head and reached in and pulled out the two bags of Funsize Mars Bars and gave them to Fawkes as he hovered in front of them.

"Now carefully point the sword at each bag separately and say the incantation, Portus, as you picture in your mind where you want to send the Portkeys."

Harry pointed the sword at the first bag and said, "Portus!" As he pictured in his mind a spot that he imagined was on the far side of the Acromantula Colony that he had seen in second year. Which, as Harry Potter's luck would have it, was the same spot that Madam Bones had assumed was the middle of the Forbidden Forest.

The bag of Funsize Mars Bars glowed blue as they were turned into emergency Portkeys. Harry repeated the charm on the other bag and Fawkes flew away to make his air drop.

 _\- Harry Potter,_ _I will never make her cry again_ _. -_

"Cease fire for a moment!" Augusta said. "Fawkes is coming in with two more of those bags of Mars Bars."

"Great, we are almost out of them." Amelia said as she turned to see Fawkes swoop in.

"They are glowing blue! Do you think that they have already been made into Portkeys?"

"I hope so. I don't think that I will have the strength to create them." Amelia said as she reached up to take the bags from Fawkes as he hovered in front of her. "Are these ready to go, Fawkes?"

Fawkes nodded and then flew away.

"Thank you, Fawkes!" Madam Bones said as she turned back to the front. "Forward, Aurors!"

Madam Bones Auror phalanx continued to find stunned Acromantulas and all the other weird colourful creatures.

"Thank goodness we are able to stack the stunned creatures as it is saving us Portkeys." Aggie said to Amelia.

"Thanks to Harry Potter for making our job easier." Amelia replied.

There was a red flash and the ground shook as a giant Acromantula came cartwheeling towards them.

"Move to the right, now!" Madam Bones commanded her phalanx to manoeuvre as the giant spider bowling ball rolled towards them but they couldn't move quick enough.

The Aurors raised their strongest shield charms and braced for impact as Madam Bones took careful aim.

" _ **DEPULSO!"**_

She screamed and the banished Funsize Mars Bar emergency Portkey hit the rolling Acromantula hard and true as it spun away.

"Great shot, Boss!" Jones exclaimed as the other Aurors whispered. "Bloody hell, that was close!"

"I just wish Mr Potter would stop playing with them. That was way too close!" Aggie said.

"Where are they all coming from?" Alice asked. "There couldn't have been that many in the maze?"

 _\- Harry Potter,_ _I will never make her cry again_ _. -_

Again and again Fawkes would let them know where the Acromantulas were massing for a counter-attack and the Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions' Cavalry would charged in to save the night, across the trampled maze as the battlefield grew in size. But the Acromantulas didn't give up nor ran away with such a large food supply almost within their reach as normally the Outer Wards of Hogwarts would have prevented them from leaving the Forbidden Forest. But for some reason these important outer wards didn't seem to be working that night. So more hungry Acromantulas charged in to feed and as one squad was stunned or pushed back another horde surged forward to try and attack the students and witches and wizards in the viewing stand.

Fawkes sang an alarm to the hat.

"Damn!" Fergus said. "Fawkes says that there are even more Acromantulas massing in the Forbidden Forest and attacking through the Outer Ward of Hogwarts. The damn fool interfering headmaster has disabled the wards that kept them out and is not here to re-enable them."

"Why would he?" Harry wondered and then realised. "Oh! So he could use the Acromantulas in the maze!"

"Correct, Mr Potter." Fergus agreed.

"What can we do? There must be millions of Acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest!" Harry asked thinking back to his adventure to visit Aragog for information in second year.

"We have to reinforce the wards!" Fergus replied.

"How?"

"Use the sword, Mr Potter." Fergus said. "Godric Gryffindor used it to establish the castle wards in the beginning."

"Oh?" Harry said as he brought his glowing silver stag to a standstill.

"Just point the sword straight up and say. Protego Horribilis Acromantulas Fianto Duri! As you feel in your mind how strongly you want to protect the students!"

"Okay, stand clear!" Harry said to warn the Champions and then pointed the Sword of Gryffindor straight up and shouted as he dug deep into his feelings to protect Hermione.

" _ **PROTEGO HORRIBILIS ACROMANTULAS FIANTO DURI!"**_

Harry had to hold the sword with both hands as it recoiled against the super charged surge of magical power and a very bright beam of white light that turned night into day as it shot straight up until it hit what must be the Outer Wards of Hogwarts, and then the white light radiated out like a giant dome that arched back towards and over the castle, and forwards to the Forbidden Forest on the other side of the Quidditch pitch and maze. They heard a thump as the dome of white light hit the ground and slowly faded back to clear.

"Oh, well done, Mr Potter." Fergus congratulated Harry as the crowd ooh and ah. "Even the headmaster couldn't do that without accessing the ward stones."

"Thank you, Fergus." Harry replied a little breathless. "It is nice for a change to have someone who knows what they are doing and is prepared to explain things like Hermione does."

"You're welcome, Mr Potter. Hogwarts is a school after all."

"But the headmaster sure loves to keep his secrets and talk in riddles."

"That he does." Fergus agreed.

"Well done, Harry!" Cedric said as he could see the giant spiders hitting the Outer Boundary Wards of Hogwarts. "That will stop the rest of the Acromantulas."

Fawkes sang another alarm and the Champions' Cavalry regrouped and charge again. But it was like herding hungry cats while protecting the canary but at least no more Acromantulas could attack from the Forbidden Forest.

As each charge was opening up the gap between the spectators and creatures leaving stunned Acromantulas small, large and gigantic on their backs all over the battlefield that had been the maze, along with some very colourful creatures as Peeves used up his special ordinance with cheerful glee.

 _\- Harry Potter,_ _I will never make her cry again_ _. -_

Madam Bones and her Auror phalanx wearily approached a giant Acromantula that was on its back and unmoving when there was an enormous white flash and the sky glowed white.

"Bloody hell?" A young rookie in the front row asked. "What the hell was that?"

"Harry Potter." Answered Jones. "Looks like he just fired a protection charm at the Wards of Hogwarts."

Augusta looked at what Harry had just done. "He has reinforced the Outer Wards of Hogwarts, probably to stop any more Acromantulas attacking from the Forbidden Forest."

"I thought only the headmaster could do that."

"Well, he has Fergus and Fawkes with him. So it's now the headmaster and Harry Potter." Madam Bones said as she banished another Portkey into a stacked tower of stunned spiders and other colourful creatures.

 _\- Harry Potter,_ _I will never make her cry again_ _. -_

While on the Quidditch viewing stands, the professors from Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, plus parent witches and wizards present for the occasion that now made up the Last Line of Defence had taken their positions. They were a little surprised but very glad to be reinforced by more wizards and witches from the large Quidditch World Cup viewing stands that the Ministry had set up behind the Hogwarts viewing stands. They all watched in awe as the Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions' Cavalry charged and hunted down the Acromantulas as Madam Bones' brave phalanx of Aurors blasted the giant creatures until they were stopped and sent away.

Then what the Last Line feared happened. A small Acromantula, not that a four foot spider could be consider small, had got passed the Champions' Cavalry and Madam Bones' courageous Phalanx of Aurors, and was scrambling has fast as its eight legs could go and was heading directly for the viewing stand and the children it contained.

"Prepare to fire Bombarda, Confringo or Expulso curses on my command." Their fearless leader, the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts ordered as the fearful witches and wizards of the Last Line raised their wands. For most of them this would be the first time that they had ever fired in anger or used anything they had learnt in DADA since they left Hogwarts. Not even at the height of the terror of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, they had done nothing to protect themselves and many of their families and friends had paid the price for putting their trust in the headmaster to save them. Now their children were at risk and they took courage from the brave actions of the Champions and Aurors, and aimed their wands at the approaching Acromantula.

When the Acromantula was close enough for them to see its eight black eyes.

"Fire!"

Screamed Professor McGonagall in her commanding voice that none dared to disobey.

Two hundred witches and wizards screamed.

" _ **BOMBARDA!"**_

or

" _ **CONFRINGO!"**_

or

" _ **EXPULSO!"**_

And the viewing stand was lit up with the spell fire as the small rampaging Acromantula disappeared in a gory mist.

The two hundred formerly fearful witches and wizards of the Last Line celebrated their success with a cheer, a fist pump or a high five with each other as they grew in courage and confidence. They didn't have to wait long before another small rampaging Acromantula tried its luck only meet the same gory fate.

Professor McGonagall lost count how many times she had ordered the Last Line to fire a broadside but it felt so awesome, and the killing grounds in front of them was covered in Acromantula remains.

None of them had got past.

 _\- Harry Potter,_ _I will never make her cry again_ _. -_

The Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions' Cavalry had left a trail of stunned rampaging Acromantulas and other colourful creatures for Madam Bones and her phalanx of hellfiring Aurors. One by one, the stunned creatures were stacked on top of the largest Acromantula and were hit with a Portkey. The whole stack spun around as they disappeared until there was just one frightened gigantic Acromantula left. That was trapped on the wrong side of the reinforced Wards of Hogwarts.

Then as the Auror phalanx were advancing on the last surviving Acromantula, Madam Bones thought she heard someone cheering who sounded a lot like her Susan and she turned to scan the crowd with her enchanted monocle and night vision sunglasses.

Madam Bones could see the remains of a number of smaller Acromantulas that had got past the Champions' Cavalry and her Aurors in their attempt to attack the children for an easy meal. But the former terrified witches and wizards plus the professors had taken courage from the example of the four Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions and started to help each other and not wait for Dumbledore to save them.

It almost moved Madam Bones to tears as she realised that the empowered witches and wizards of the Last Line of Defence had made damn well sure that no monster had got past them.

The Last Line had been held and the children had been saved!

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

While just on the other side of the Acromantula colony, near where Madam Bones had unfortunately assumed was the center of the Forbidden Forest. It was an easy mistake to make as no one really knew how big the ancient forest was. There just happened to be a small clearing with a lovely little lake and a quaint little castle that the headmaster had built for his summer getaways with his lover from Nurmengard Castle. Even the headmaster's Greater Good thought he deserved a second chance at happiness in such a beautiful place where they wouldn't be disturbed as they were protected by the Acromantula colony.

But the stillness of the night was interrupted by a loud whizzing sound as an injured giant Acromantula suffering from severe nausea crashed down on the quaint little caste. Shortly followed by more injured and dying Acromantulas, weird crab like creatures, and these strange looking giant yellow canaries, iridescent green flamingos, hot pink dodos and an ultra violet aardvark. All of them suffering severe nausea which caused them to violently cough up everything in their stomachs.

Then to add to the mess, stacked towers of stunned Acromantulas and other colourful creatures arrived by Portkey, and landed on top of the growing pile. But, fortunately, as they had been stunned, they didn't suffer from severe nausea.

Unfortunately, when they awoke from their unconsciousness a week later, they discovered themselves covered in the remains of the mess they had landed in and then had to explain themselves to a very infuriated Aragog.

Sadly, the small clearing with a lovely little lake and a quaint little castle were completely destroyed and became an Acromantula graveyard.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

For almost thirty minutes Fawkes had courageously kept overwatch as Sir Nicholas proudly led their charges and DobbyCam and KreacherCam caught all the action in high definition. Harry had to create four more bags of Funsize Mars Bars Emergency Portkeys which Fawkes had air delivered.

Sir Nicholas led the Champions with the Hogwarts ghosts over towards the far left flank and near the Forbidden Forest where there was a single Acromantula which had been fought by a lone wizard. They discovered that the giant spider had been sliced up severely and was quite dead while the lone wizard had disappeared.

Sir Nicholas turned to the Champions and said. "I don't know what sort of curse could do that to an Acromantula but it has killed it."

"It wasn't me." Harry protested.

"Of course not, Harry." Cedric agreed as he chuckled. "You would have just left a hole in the ground."

"Some brave wizard must have got very close to do that and then disappeared. What a very Slytherin thing to do!" The Bloody Baron said as he remembered what the Head of Slytherin House could do. He didn't say anything more as true Slytherins didn't wish to attract attention to themselves.

"I have seen this curse before." Viktor said. "We were on a hunt and Headmaster Karkaroff used it to stop a huge charging wild boar. It is a really nasty curse that causes multiple high-powered cutting curses all wrapped up into one and really made a mess of it."

"Well someone put it to good use tonight and didn't stick around to claim any credit." Cedric replied.

"Well thank you!" Fleur and Harry said together out loud to thank the unknown wizard.

Harry looked over to the right flank where the last surviving Acromantula was about to meet its fate as Madam Bones and her phalanx of Aurors approached to make it disappear. "Well this show is almost over and the adults are doing the right thing and helping."

"For once!" Cedric added as Harry grinned.

Winky, the house-elf, popped in with more refreshments and Pepperup Potion to recharge the Champions and handed them out.

"Thank you Winky." Harry said and then turned to Cedric and asked. "So, what happens now?"

"What do you mean, Harry?" Cedric asked back after he had drank his Pepperup Potion.

As Moaning Myrtle giggled. "Usually by now, our Harry is injured or unconscious and on his way to the gentle care of the Madam of Pain, Poppy."

"Oh, well, you have friends to share the adventure with and help you survive unharmed, Harry." Cedric replied. "So we get ready to party!"

"Not so fast, Mr Diggory." Fergus interjected. "We have a number of loose ends and the Chaos to control for us to win tonight on our terms."

"Oh, goody." Harry said. "This going to be a long night."

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Madam Bones and her phalanx of hellfiring Aurors slowly advanced on the frighten gigantic Acromantula that was trapped on the wrong side of the Outer Wards of Hogwarts next to another giant spider that had been chopped in half when the protection charm cast by Harry to reinforce the outer wards, had hit the ground.

The last gigantic Acromantula had been hiding in the remains of the maze after the magical enhanced part had dissolved away leaving what had grown naturally over the past six weeks since the maze was planted.

The Acromantula had seen what was happening to its comrades and wanted no part of that as it already knew how disappointed Aragog would be with it. As it hated to see the old grandfather's sad white cloudy eyes. But it was trapped by an invisible barrier that was preventing it from returning to the Forbidden Forest.

Then it felt the first curses hit its back and it turned to face the phalanx.

Madam Bones and her phalanx of hell firing Aurors took a step back as the frighten gigantic Acromantula turned to face them.

But it didn't attack them.

They were close enough to see the intelligence in the eyes of the monster.

"Slowly forward. I only have one Portkey left and I don't wish to miss." Madam Bones commanded her Aurors. "And don't fire! I think it wants to leave but it is trapped against the outer wards."

A few steps closer and Madam Bones was in range and the Acromantula had made no attempt to attack but forced itself back against the wards.

" _DEPULSO!"_

With a flick of her wand, Madam Bones banished the last Funsize Mars Bar Portkey at the giant spider and it stuck fast to its body as it started to spin.

" _ **DOWN!"**_

She order as her phalanx moved as one to duck down just as the Portkey lifted the giant spider and it moved towards them as its long hairy legs spun over their heads.

One excited rookie forgot that spiders have eight legs and he jumped up to celebrate too soon and was almost collected by the last long hairy leg of the last giant Acromantula to be Portkeyed away. The last thing he saw was dark brown and covered in short rough hair before Senior Auror Hestia Jones managed to pull the rookie down just in time. But the rookie will have the scars the rough hairs made on his face to show how close he came to eating an Acromantula but he was most upset to lose his cool dark night vision sunglasses.

Madam Bones whispered."Constant Vigilance!"

As the other Aurors chuckled and celebrated their survival with a fist pump or high-fives. While Augusta and Alice just smiled and hugged each other as their relief to have survived unhurt overcame them. They had never been that close as they were mother- and daughter-in-law. But working together to face certain death in the form of gigantic Acromantulas had bonded them completely.

"Well done, Aurors. A great job!" Madam Bones congratulated her phalanx of hell firing Aurors and nodded a heartfelt thank you to Aggie and Alice as the shared their moment. "I am so proud of all of you!"

"Thanks, Boss." Was the breathless general response.

Considering what they had faced, it was an excelled result.

And they were damn well pleased with themselves.

Damn well pleased indeed!

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

INTERMISSION!

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Thank you for reading.


	14. The aftermath of the Third Task part 2

Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again.

Chapter 14. The Great Evil of the Greater Good. The aftermath of the Tempest of the Third Task. Part 2 Controlling the Chaos.

19/08/19 Beta by alix33 Thank you.

I don't own the Harry Potter verse. Just playing.

Thank you for all your kind reviews.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

The Magic of the Night had fought back against the evil schemes of the headmaster's Greater Good.

And together the Champions had survived yet another battle against impossible odds.

But there was work to be done to control the chaos.

Many Witches and Wizards had taken courage from the example of the Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions and worked together. And they exceeded their own expectations and now they wanted to celebrate.

Tomorrow they will see an opportunity to make a difference and the winds of change were blowing like a gale against the wishes of the old fool.

And the Magic of the Night would never give up!

Never surrender!

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

"Excellent! Well done!" Fergus, the sorting hat, said to the resting Champions as they moved around to high-five each other to celebrate their survival of yet another impossible battle. They were too breathless to do much more while they watched the last Acromantula about to be Portkeyed away. "You have saved the students from a painful death and the headmaster's foolishness!"

"Thank you, Fergus. And you too, Fawkes." Harry replied. "We couldn't have done it without you and Fawkes." As he turned to their brave fearless leader. "And you too, Sir Nicholas and our friends."

Sir Nicholas nodded with pride and satisfaction to his fellow ghosts, and they nodded back with a cheerful victorious grin. Then he looked at the Champions and Fergus, and said. "Thank you. And well done lads and lassie. It has been my greatest honour to have led you in this glorious battle and now we need to prepare for the adulations of our multitude of admirers."

"Oh, I so do love a parade!" Fergus said cheerfully enjoying his freedom from the headmaster's interference.

"What?" A confused Harry asked as Fawkes landed on his shoulder.

"Oh, Mr Potter. This is the part you have always missed out on after you had so valiantly saved Hogwarts before." Fergus explained. "While you were unconscious, we partied to celebrate your victory."

"Oh?"

"It was unfortunate that you missed it then, but now you can really enjoy it with someone you love." Fergus said as Harry smiled and thought about Hermione. He couldn't blame them for celebrating without him, so he decided to make the best of it tonight.

"Oh, okay." Harry's smile got bigger.

"Yes, that's the spirit my dear Harry, we have but one charge left to make and we need to arrive in the style as befitting the occasion. After a successful engagement of battle against impossible odds, and such a great and glorious victory as this." Sir Nicholas explained as he opened his saddle bag and pulled out a full size lance that had two large silver banners flying at the tip. They were the coat of arms of the House of Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington and of Gryffindor. Then he quietly mentioned to himself. "If only the Headless Hunt and that pretentious Sir Patrick Delaney-Decapitated-Properly-Podmore could see me now."

"Don't worry my old friend." Sir Waldo, the Bloody Baron said as he took out his lance with the Slytherin banner. "Such will be the way I shall tell them the story of your courage and brave deeds, that it will leave them green with envy and those pompous fools now a-bed shall think themselves accursed that they were not here, and hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks that fought with us this night!"

"Thank you my friend." Sir Nicholas smiled. "And I shall tell them of the courage and bravery of the Ghost of Hogwarts."

"Well done, milady." The Grey Lady said to Fleur as she took out her staff and Ravenclaw banner. "This has been so much fun! I have not felt this alive for such an age!"

Fleur smiled as she nodded to the Grey Lady and took a minute to catch her breath and enjoy the moment as she looked at her fellow Champions. She realized that after following the Littlest Champion as he charged into certain death with a wild-eye grin, she had never felt so alive, and so accepted, and so welcomed by her friends. No they were more than friends, almost like the brothers she always wanted. Riding a charging silver stag while attacking Acromantulas and those weird crab like creatures was a great team building exercise while saving a lot of witches and wizards. She noticed Sir Nicholas take out his lance and banner, and held it up proudly with a triumphant glint in his eye. She conjured up her own lance and banner showing the coat of arms of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and added a charm to the banner to leave a trail of blue stars as the banner moved in the breeze.

Peeves was giggling wickedly that he dropped his empty bin while Viktor took a minute to catch his breath and enjoy the moment. He looked at his fellow Champions who had trusted and believed in him so much that they didn't hesitate to help him break that terrible Unforgivable Imperius Curse. Even with Durmstrang's allegedly dark reputation, his fellow champions had accepted him as a friend and brother. He was so thankful that Harry had forgiven him for escorting Miss Hermione Granger to the Yule Ball and he had even told them the secret of that vile reporter Skeeter. But no one had seen or heard from the wicked witch of the order of the poison pen first class, and none of the vindictive stories that he had seen her collect from those silly blonde Slytherins at the Yule Ball were ever printed. A smiled formed on his face as he was so glad he had come to Hogwarts and made so many great friends from both schools. He had a wicked grin as he used his wand to conjure a lance and banner showing the coat of arms of the Durmstrang Institute and he held it up proudly with his head high. Everyone will know and see that Durmstrang Institute had been here and played her part courageously.

"Good show, my son, your actions were very brave, loyal and courageous." The Fat Friar said to Cedric. "You are a true Hufflepuff."

Cedric smiled to acknowledge his house ghost compliment as he took a minute to catch his breath and enjoy the moment as he looked at his fellow Champions. He had seen Harry in action before but had always assumed that it was what was to be expected for the Boy-Who-Lived. He had to admit that he had been really disappointed and annoyed when Harry's name came out of the Goblet of Fire and spoilt all his dreams of being the Hogwarts Tri-Wizard Tournament Champion. Alone. But then Harry went out of his way to warn him about the dragons just to be fair, even after how poorly he had been treated. He knew he would have never survived the first task without Harry's help and then Harry had to face that humongous Hungarian Horntail dragon. Alone. That was when he saw the real Harry Potter and he was nothing like the Boy-Who-Lived stories. Whoever had written those fake stories had never even met Harry Potter. Cedric saw that Harry was so much more than the fairy tales of the Boy-Who-Lived. When he had explained to his fellow Hufflepuffs what Harry had done to save his life against the dragons, they were ashamed how they had treated Harry and went out of their way to make it up. Cedric said he was sorry to Harry and Harry had just forgiven him. He was so glad to have made Harry his friend and little brother. He smiled as he conjured a lance with two banners showing the coat of arms for Hogwarts and Hufflepuff and then he conjured a second lance for the littlest Champion with two banners showing the coat of arms of Hogwarts and Gryffindor.

Moaning Myrtle was also giggling her infectious mischievous giggle as she had never had that much excitement and fun as she snuggled into her favourite Champion's back. While Harry took a minute to catch his breath and enjoy the moment as he looked at his fellow Champions. Together his big brothers and sister had survived this adventure against impossible odds and without injury. And for Harry, that was all that mattered. He smiled as he accepted the lance from Cedric that showed the Hogwarts and Gryffindor banners and held it up high.

Fleur added her trailing stars charm to the banners so that the house banners of Sir Nicholas trailed silver stars, Viktor's banner trailed bright purple stars, and the Hogwarts, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor banners trailed Scarlet, Gold, Blue, Bronze, Green, Silver, Yellow and Black stars. Though the black Hufflepuff stars were hard to see in the dark.

Now they were rested and ready for their final charge, and their new battle to control the chaos. Sir Nicholas blew his old battered bugle and they slowly galloped back after the last Acromantula was Portkeyed away.

It was a glorious sight to see the Champions and Ghosts charge on their silver stags with their banners high and trailing a multitude of colourful stars with Sir Nicholas in the lead sounding the charge as the Castle played the Light Cavalry Overture.

With a smile, the Littlest Champion hung back to let the three Official Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions be led by Sir Nicholas to be presented before the enormous crowd of cheering witches and wizards and have their moment of eternal glory.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

When the last Acromantula disappeared back into the Forbidden Forest a massive cheer went up from both of the Quidditch viewing stands as they celebrated the glorious victory that saved them from a certain painful pointy death. Then they turned to the few brave witches and wizards who had stood up on the Last Line of Defence and protected them. They clapped as they stamped their feet and cheered and whistled to thank them as they smiled and waved back.

Then the massive crowd got louder as the witches and wizards of the Last Line of Defence joined them as they turned to show their appreciation to Madam Bones and her brave phalanx of hellfiring Aurors for their part in the victory while some chanted, "Bones!" Over and over.

While one little witch yelled. "Go, Aunty!"

In the Slytherin section of the Quidditch viewing stand, the students had never seen such a display of magic by the Champions, the Aurors or the professors and adults who held the Last Line of Defence that protected them from the headmaster's foolishness. All the students except for one blonde hair idiot (but he is blond) cheered and jumped up and down in sheer joy of the action that saved them all from a very painful death. But none cheered as loud as the Secret Harry Potter Slytherin Fan Club made up of Daphne Greengrass, Tracy Davis, Millicent Bulstrode, Pansy Parkinson, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Madam Bones and her phalanx of trusty hellfiring Aurors and Longbottoms gave a cheer with a fist pump as the last surviving Acromantula spun away.

"Well done, Aurors" Madam Bones congratulated her team as Aggie and Alice nodded in agreement as they were too hoarse to say anything due to all their spell casting. "Very well done indeed! I am so proud of you!"

"Thanks! Boss!" Senior Auror Jones spoke breathlessly for her team as they congratulated each other with high-fives, hugs and pats on the back for surviving such an exhausting ordeal together and unharmed.

Then they were a little surprised to hear a growing louder cheer and thunderous clapping coming from the two viewing stands behind them. They turned around and saw that the massive crowd was looking at them and their applause, cheering and whistling for them. To thank them for their part in dealing with the gigantic spiders and weird crab things, and saving them all from a terrible painful death. The hellfiring Aurors could hear the crowd chanting, "Bones!" And even a, "Go, Aunty!"

Not used to being thanked for their service, even with such a deafening applause, the hellfiring Aurors were a little embarrassed and at a loss as what to do.

Madam Bones smirked as she knew Fudge, the Toad and the headmaster would absolutely hate for someone other themselves being the center of attention for such a celebration. She looked at her trusty hellfiring Aurors and told them. "Smile and wave, Aurors, smile and wave, and enjoy the moment as they only happen so rarely."

So the Aurors followed Madam Bones' example and smiled and waved to crowd to acknowledge the applause while a few larks bowed and others blew kisses.

Madam Bones let them enjoy their moment while she summonsed her house-elf to bring some refreshments and Pepperup potion for her Aurors. She knew it was going to be a long night and they needed to keep their strength up.

Finally the crowd of students, witches and wizards had something really good to celebrate with wands firing all these fireworks charms into the night sky. While no one but the Castle noticed the Sphinx and Boggarts sneaking through the shadows in their bid to escape the maze on their way to surreptitiously enter into the dungeons of Hogwarts.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

The cheering and applause from the enormous crowd of witches, wizards and students rose louder still as Sir Nicholas and the Bloody Baron proudly led three of the four Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions with their Hogwarts Ghosts mascots, Fats, the Grey Lady and Peeves, along with their banners held high and flying as they trailed stars while the Castle played the Light Cavalry Overture.

It was a glorious sight, but Sir Nicholas noticed that one was missing and he turned and rode his silver ghost charger back to the Littlest Champion standing alone.

Fleur, Cedric and Viktor noticed that the Littlest Champion was missing, so they turned to Harry and watched as he doffed his hat to salute them and they realised that he was honouring them and to give his big brothers and sister their moment of eternal glory. It was such a Harry thing to do and they silently thanked him with a nod as they enjoyed that fleeting moment while they waited for Sir Nicholas to lead Harry in.

The Official Three Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions smiled and waved to the cheering crowd.

Fleur was surprised to hear the Beauxbatons witches in the Ravenclaw stand chanting her name and swing their arms and hips, as they did their sassy cheer dance, so she waved and blew a kiss to them. Then the Beauxbatons witches let off a giant firework that exploded high overhead in the Beauxbatons colours showing a moving picture of Fleur smiling as she waved her hand with her long blonde hair blowing in the breeze. The writing said,

'FLEUR DELACOUR

CHAMPION OF BEAUXBATONS'.

The Durmstrang students in the Slytherin stand were chanting Viktor's name with their fists in the air as they stamped their feet. Then they let off a giant firework that exploded in Durmstrang colours showing a moving picture of Viktor looking stern and proud. The writing said,

'VIKTOR KRUM

CHAMPION OF DURMSTRANG.'

Cedric could hear his father screaming. "That's my son, Cedric!"

While the Hufflepuff students were not to be out done, as they were chanting Cedric's name with the Hufflepuff witches copying the Beauxbatons witches sassy cheer dance while the Hufflepuff wizards pumped their fists in the air as they stamped their feet. The seventh year students of Hufflepuff conjured up and launched their giant firework which exploded to show Cedric's smiling face as he waved as the writing said,

'CEDRIC DIGGORY

CHAMPION OF HOGWARTS

and HUFFLEPUFF.'

While the Gryffindor students were chanting Harry's name while sassy dancing with their fists in the air as they stamped their feet. The redhead twins rose to the challenge and conjured and launched their giant firework which was the biggest one of them all with a giant explosion to show a smiling waving Harry riding a Hungarian Horntail Dragon. The writing said,

'HARRY POTTER

THE LITTLEST CHAMPION

THE OFFICIAL HERO OF HOGWARTS

and GRYFFINDOR'.

The cheer grew louder as each of the giant fireworks went off and Fleur, Viktor and Cedric were so proud of the support and love their school friends gave them as they smiled, waved their hands and blew kisses to the cheering crowd as they really enjoyed their fleeting moment of eternal glory.

Then the Grey Lady and Fleur put their hands up and started to copy the Beauxbatons sassy cheer dance as the glowing silver stag that they were riding started to groove to the beat as he swung his big butt and antlers, while either side of them, Viktor, Peeves, Cedric and the Fat Friar started to pump their fists over their heads as their stags reared up triumphant and kicked out their hooves.

And the cheerful crowd of students, witches and wizards loved it.

And so did the Official Three Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions!

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

As they watched Sir Nicholas ride back to Harry, Fergus asked. "What is the matter, Harry?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just that this is their moment of eternal glory." Harry replied as he pointed to the other Champions and doffed the sorting hat to salute them. "They have earnt this and they so deserved it!"

"You are so much like your beautiful dear mother, Mr Potter. She was kind, caring, brilliant, brave and courageous, but not one to be the centre of attention." Fergus replied.

"But push her buttons and she could be one very scary powerful witch, as your father discovered many times." Moaning Myrtle giggled as she paused to remember. "There were so many epic battles between your mother and her bumbling wooer that started when your father noticed her in their first year at Hogwarts."

Seeing Harry interest, Fergus continued. "We could tell you some stories if you like?"

Harry nodded. He would like that very much.

Moaning Myrtle giggled. "Oh, there was this time when your father tried to throw a surprise birthday party for your mother in their second year but that idiot Black told him the wrong date and she was so embarrassed that she hexed him so much that he couldn't sit down for a week!"

Fergus chuckled. "Oh, do you remember St Valentine's day in their first year?"

"Oh, how could I forget?" Moaning Myrtle giggled. "The mess in the Great Hall."

"Ahem, ahem!" Sir Nicholas chuckled as he arrived to overhear their conversation. "Good memories all my dear friends, but first we need to finish this."

Harry smiled and nodded.

They took in the happy cheering scene before them with all the fireworks, cheering, chanting and dancing while Moaning Myrtle took the opportunity to snuggle into Harry as she giggled. Much to Harry's growing embarrassment. In the glow of the fireworks, they could see that their recent battlefield was littered with bits of Acromantulas and parts those crab like creatures.

"Your mother would have been appalled by all this fuss, Harry. Even as the brightest witch of her age she so avoided the fame, notoriety and spotlight." Sir Nicholas explained and then added as he rocked his hand. "Your father, hmm, not so much. He only avoided the attention when he didn't want to get caught doing something he was not supposed to be doing. So he would have absolutely loved this."

Harry smiled as he learnt a little more of his parents and as he turned to the Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions, he let out a laugh as he saw their antics to dance for their cheering throng as the stags reared up triumphant.

"Come, my son, now that you have honoured your brilliant mother, let's go make your father proud!" Sir Nicholas encouraged as he blew his bugle again and led the Littlest Champion towards the cheering throng as the Castle played the theme from Chariots of Fire.

The other Champions formed an honour guard for their little brother. They held their banners high for Sir Nicholas and the Littlest Champion to pass under them and then together they followed behind with the Ghosts of Hogwarts as they waved to the crowd and blew kisses. Moaning Myrtle was poking her tongue out at all the witches who had ignored her as she snuggled into her favourite Champion and giggled infectiously.

The cheer rose until it was deafening as Sir Nicholas proudly led the Tri-Wizard Tournament Champion's Cavalry with their banners flying and trailing stars.

Fleur called out to Harry. "They really love you, Harry!"

Viktor added. "Our fearless leader!"

Cedric finished with Harry's new title. "He-Who-Dances-With-Acromantulas!"

While Harry shook his head at yet more new titles as he held his lance so the Gryffindor Banner would hide his face from the screaming cheering crowd and all the fireworks going off. He still was his mother's son and the only person he was looking for should still be safe and sound in the Marauder's Control Room.

The Tri-Wizard Tournament Champion's Cavalry slowed and came to a halt before Madam Bones and her phalanx of hellfiring Aurors and Longbottoms as all the witches and wizards in the Quidditch stands went wild at the sight and fired more fireworks charms into the sky.

"Well done, Mr Potter, Mr Diggory, Miss Delacour and Mr Krum!" Madam Bones congratulated the four champions. "And of course, Fergus, Sir Nicholas and the Ghost of Hogwarts. Your brave gallant actions have been a great courageous example to us and has saved many lives tonight! Thank you!"

"We couldn't have done it without your majestic assistance, my dear madam." Sir Nicholas said as he and the Bloody Baron gave her a gracious bow while Harry gave a cheeky salute thank you to Aunty Amelia as she looked very official with the monocle behind her dark sunglasses and her smiling hellfiring Aurors standing behind her also wearing their dark sunglasses. While Fergus, the sorting hat and Fawkes enjoyed their moment of eternal freedom that the headmaster always denied them.

Then Harry looked at his fellow champions as they waved to the cheering crowd.

The grin on their happy faces said it all.

They would cheerfully ride with him to Hell and back.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

"So? Who won?" Madam Bones asked as the cheering crowd quieten a little.

The Champions hadn't thought about who would be their spokesman as Harry. Fleur and Viktor looked at Cedric.

With the Champions' hesitation, Augusta Longbottom answered. "It was a tie, Amelia."

"A tie?" Madam Bones questioned as the four champions held up their right hand with four fingers. "A four-way tie? You all won?"

"Yes, Madam Bones." Cedric stated as he discovered that he had been promoted to be their spokesman. "We realised that someone was certainly trying to kill Harry when he had to face that Hungarian Horntail dragon alone. Then we saw that we and our love ones could be injured or worse killed as collateral damage after the headmaster's selection for the hostages in the second task. So we worked together to rescue them as quickly as possible. Then we combined our forces to survive the third task against all the most terrible monsters the headmaster could find from the Forbidden Forest and the Magical World. And together we did survived. And together we won!"

"That was a very loyal Hufflepuff of you, Cedric." Madam Bones said with a smile as she knew how much that result would upset Fudge, Umbridge, Ludo Bagman and especially the headmaster. "Congratulations to you all. A great result!"

The excited crowd loved the idea of a four-way tie and gave a great cheer as they passed the good news around and really started to celebrate. While the twins conjured up a giant firework and launched it into in the night sky to write.

' _ **CONGRATULATIONS!**_

 _ **FLEUR DELACOUR**_

 _ **VIKTOR KRUM**_

 _ **CEDRIC DIGGORY**_

 _ **HARRY POTTER**_

 _ **ALL STAR TRI-WIZARD TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS!**_

 _ **A FOUR-WAY TIE!**_

 _ **WE ALL WIN!**_

 _ **CONGRATULATIONS!'**_

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Madam Bones waved her wand to put up a ward called, the Dome of Silence, so she could continue to question the Champions as the cheer and applause from the enormous crowd was deafening.

"That's better. So, where is the Tri-Wizard Tournament Trophy?" Madam Bones asked.

"Er, would you believe that an Acromantula ate it?" Cedric answered carefully.

"What? How did that happened?"

Harry mumbled. "I may have accidentally fed it to the Acromantula when it attacked us."

"What?"

"Er, near the end we were attacked by this huge gigantic Acromantula that was right next to the trophy. Harry managed to summon and then flicked the Tri-Wizard Trophy at the monster. It sort of flew into its mouth." Cedric carefully explained without trying to say that Harry had to charge over the giant spider to get to the trophy.

"Oh? And how did that stop the Acromantula?"

"Oh? Well, it turns out that the Tri-Wizard Tournament Trophy was actually a Portkey." Cedric said helpfully.

"A Portkey?" Madam Bones asked with a rising tone.

"Er, yes?" Cedric said now not so sure.

"And that Portkey took the Acromantula out of the maze?" Madam Bones questioned.

"Er, yes?"

"And away from Hogwarts!" Harry added helpfully.

"You're telling me that an Acromantula as big as those monsters has been Portkeyed away from Hogwarts?" Madam Bones asked as she stared down Cedric who was still sitting upon his stag.

"Oh, no, Madam Bones." Cedric fearfully said as the other Champions shook their heads to support the good Hufflepuff who always told the truth and then he quietly mumbled. "That particular Acromantula was twice as big as those monsters. It was absolutely gigantic!"

"And really mean and wickedly fast." Harry added helpfully to assist Cedric as Fleur and Viktor nodded in agreement.

" _ **WHAT?"**_

Madam Bones pinched the bridge of her nose as she couldn't believe that the headmaster could be that insane to put such a humongous monster in the maze.

Harry added nervously. "The Portkey took the Acromantula to a graveyard."

"A graveyard? Which one?"

"Er? Little Hangleton?" Harry said carefully.

"Little Hangleton? That's not a graveyard in the Magical World?"

"No, it is in the Muggle side and that is where Babymort was waiting for me." Harry explained.

"You are telling me that there is a mean nasty gigantic Acromantula running around a Muggle graveyard?"

"Er? No, not actually running anymore."

Augusta decided to step in before it got any worse. "Oh, calm down, Amelia. The Acromantula is dead. It fought a giant snake and they killed each other."

"What? There was a giant magical snake in a Muggle Graveyard?"

"Yeah, it was Voldemort's familiar, Nagini." Harry add helpfully and then demonstrated by smacking one hand on top of the other to show what had happened in the graveyard. "The Portkey dropped the gigantic Acromantula directly on top of poor Nagini. They got all tangled up in spider legs and snake tail as they fought each to the death as they rolled around crushing the rat and Babymort as well as tombstones and grave monuments."

"Oh? And how did you see that?" Senior Auror Proudfoot asked quietly.

"Er, I sometimes get a vision of what Nagini and Tom sees." Harry said shyly.

Madam Bones raised a questioning eyebrow to encourage Proudfoot to shut up and she would explain later.

"Tom's last words as the Acromantula rolled over him and it went dark were." Harry paused and then he mimicked Tom's nasally high-pitched voice. "Holy Crap! Potter! I'll Crucio you, Pott..."

Cedric, Fleur and Viktor chuckled at Harry's dramatising Tom's last words, but Madam Bones, Aggie and Alice with the older Aurors froze in fear as they recognised that terrifying dreaded voice and whispered together. "Holy crap!"

"Er?" Harry asked as he saw the fear in the eyes of the older Aurors and wondered if he had gotten Tom's voice just right.

"Em." Madam Bones was startled at Harry's revelation and also saw the fear in the eyes of the older adults.

Senior Auror Robards found his voice and started to speak. "Er. Who is this Tom? Babymort? The rat?"

"Tom Riddle is Voldemort's real name and Babymort is how he currently exists at the moment. It looks like he has possessed an ugly baby." Harry answered as the Aurors flinched. "And the rat was the one who truly betrayed my parents."

"Er?" Robards said as he wondered how Harry could be so calm when talking about a great big magical fight and someone who they still feared to say his name. "He's not dead?"

"No! Not completely."

"How?" Robards asked before he noticed his Boss giving him the eye to tell him to shut up and she would explain later.

"The headmaster wouldn't tell me as I am too young." Harry shrugged his shoulders in frustration and annoyed with the old manipulative coot. "Well, he can deal with Tom next time. I am just so glad that none of us got caught up in that mess. If we had touched the trophy. It would have been certain death!" Harry finished as the other Champions surround him and Madam Bones wondered if that was exactly what the headmaster wanted.

Augusta continued. "Frank and Algernon have already left to secure the Muggle graveyard with an Unspeakables SWAT team. It appears that Voldemort was going to use the Tri-Wizard Tournament Trophy to capture Harry and take him to the graveyard to use him for some dark ritual and then probably try and murder him again."

"Oh?" Amelia said not sure if she felt any better as Professor McGonagall arrived after organising the safety of the students and joined the discussion.

"Congratulations everyone. A four-way tie for the Tri-Wizard Tournament is a brilliant result and that will really upset the headmaster." Professor McGonagall cheerfully said. "And well done Amelia and your Aurors for sending them back into the Forbidden Forest."

"Thank you, Minerva. You and your warriors on the Last Line of Defence have exceeded all expectations."

"Thank you!" Minerva said heartfelt. "And a thousand points each to Cedric and Harry for charging those Acromantulas."

"How are the students?" Amelia asked as Harry and Cedric high fived each other as they might just beat Slytherin for the House Cup.

"Just a few scratches but everyone is in a great mood. Especially my Gryffindors and the Hufflepuffs with that four-way tie. Even Ravenclaw and Slytherin are celebrating." Minerva replied. "We are moving everyone back to the Great Hall to count them and continue the celebrations."

"Good, Minerva. I shall see you soon after I tie up some loose ends." Madam Bones said as she then turned to the Champions. "I think the Minister will be waiting for you at the entrance to the maze. You better make your way there now."

The Ghosts of Hogwarts took that as their cue to return to the castle as they couldn't stand pompous Fudge, even when he was a student at Hogwarts. But not before the Grey Lady rewarded the courage and bravery of the Champions and Sir Nicholas with a kiss on the cheek, which made the Bloody Baron absolutely furious but before he could explode the Grey Lady gave him a kiss on the cheek to forgive him and as a reward for keeping the castle safe and including her in their exciting adventure. She hadn't felt so alive in a millennium. While Moaning Myrtle wanted to stay to snog Harry but the Grey Lady took her hand and led her back arm in arm with Sir Waldo to the Great Hall to celebrate with her friends and the start of a beautiful future. While a very happy Fat Friar went to celebrate with his Hufflepuffs and a mischievous Peeves went looking for the Twins to restock his bin of bombs. Particularly those lovely yellow canary bombs.

"Thank you, Mr Potter. You have saved the school again!" Fergus said as Fawkes got ready to flame the hat away. "Hogwarts was such a boring place before you arrived."

"So not my fault!" Harry chuckled as he replaced the Sword of Gryffindor back inside the hat as Fawkes hovered above him. "Thank you for your help Fergus and you too, Fawkes."

"We will speak more later." Fergus said as Fawkes decided to take flight to enjoy the freedom of the beautiful night and take the scenic tour route back to the Great Hall. They could hear the hat's whoop of joy and Fawkes' uplifting song as they flew around the tall towers of the castle. Much like how Hermione and Harry sounded like on that romantic night flight on Buckbeak. Fergus started to sing; _Let's go fly a kite_ , as he flew around and the Castle played along.

Hogwarts seemed to be a much happier place without Dumbledore to kill the mood with his sad disappointed eyes.

Harry smiled as he watched Fawkes fly away and then turned and gave Aunty Amelia a cheeky salute while Sir Nicholas proudly led the Tri-Wizard Tournament Champion's Cavalry as they galloped the silver stags with their banners flying and trailing stars, back to the entrance of the maze where their family and friends would be waiting with the Minister while Madam Bones continued to give instructions to her Aurors.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

While behind the Quidditch Viewing stands the professors were marshalling the students to lead them to the Great Hall where their celebrations could continue. The Durmstrang students quickly formed their marching columns and started to chant, "Krum!" As they marched in step. While the Beauxbatons students hummed the La Marseillaise as they marched.

Not to be outdone, the rag tag Hogwarts students tried to match the other schools as some Muggle-borns started to whistle the cheerful Colonel Bogey March. Other half-blood and Muggle-born students who knew the tune joined in with whistling or humming as they stood straighter with their shoulders back and marched with gusto. It was the first time all four houses marched together as one school without Slytherin and Gryffindor wanting to kill each other.

The crowd of adults lined the route and clapped and cheered the students as the Castle played Scotland the Brave as they entered the hallway that led through the castle as it and the Great Hall had been magically expanded by the Castle to fit three schools and a host of celebrating adults.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Hermione and everyone else safe within the Marauder's Control Room under the viewing stand had watched the final battle against the giant spiders and weird crab like things and cheered for Harry and the Champions as they charged the Acromantulas. But they were so glad the battle was over. Hearing Madam Bones direct the Champions to go to the entrance of the maze, they rushed out of the Marauder's Control Room and ran to meet Harry there.

While Sir Cadogan's portrait in his typical fashion to wander the other castle portraits to challenge everyone to a fight while he fell off his horse and generally behaving in a fairly unbalanced way, had happened upon the large magical painting in the Marauder's Control Room and had watched the exciting battle with the portrait of Lord Black and the other heads of Hogwarts. He was so exhilarated when the battle was won that he ran to visit every portrait in the castle and woke up everyone, even some portraits that had been asleep for centuries, and told them the glorious news. He even went outside the castle to portraits that he had found all over Britain in his wandering and spread the fantastic news of the victory of Harry Potter and the Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions. So many portraits headed for the large paintings in the Great Hall of Hogwarts and joined in the celebrations.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Hermione saw Harry and was to first to reach him as the Champions slowed the galloping silver stags on their way towards the entrance of the Third Task and Quidditch pitch, Harry grabbed her hand as she swung up onto the stag behind him and hugged him as Cho swung up behind Cedric to hug him and Gabrielle swung up behind Fleur to hug her while poor Viktor was almost knocked off his stag by two beautiful witches from Beauxbatons as the Headmistress smiled. She was just thankful they returned unharmed. They were closely followed by Hermione's parents, Neville and Luna, as all the crowd of witches and wizards cheered the ghost and four brave champions who saved them from the terrible creatures from the maze and spared them from the arrogance and stupidity of the imbecile of a Minister and the insane headmaster.

Harry and Hermione jumped off Prongs and let Emma and Luna have a short ride as they enjoyed the start of the celebrations for the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament ever thankful that they all survived unharmed. Though Gabrielle wanted Fleur to keep her silver stag as a souvenir of her hero, Harry.

It was all going so well and then along came the official party from the Ministry from whatever rock they had been hiding under while the danger from all the escaping creatures from the maze had been dealt with.

The four champions held hands as they stood in front with their friends and love ones to face the Minister and the remaining Tri-Wizard Tournament officials, and stared valiantly as they wanted their four-way tie to be the official result.

Unfortunately before the Minister could even speak and for some unknown reason, the four-way tie for the Tri-Wizard Tournament had really upset professor Moody and he cast the killing curse directly at Harry, who reacted immediately as he heard the first syllable of that terrible curse, "Ava", and pushed Hermione, Emma and Luna out of the way as he fired a disarming hex at the professor before the green curse even started to leave his wand. While Fleur, Cedric, and Viktor threw themselves on top of Hermione, Emma, Dan and Luna to protect them as Fudge jumped the other way. Harry had his whole family there and he didn't want to lose anyone so he couldn't just dodge the lethal curse but had to try and stop it from being cast.

The gold light of Harry's disarming hex hit the green light of the killing curse and everyone watched in shocked amazement as the Littlest Champion's hex stopped it and slowly pushed the dreaded unforgivable curse back towards the insane professor's wand.

Then Anastasia (the undercover Auror Tonks), Hermione, Luna, Neville, Cedric, Fleur and Viktor, the Headmistress of Beauxbatons and everyone else with a wand fired overpowered stunners at professor Moody who seemed to have some sort of shield form around him that deflected the curses, as Harry dug deep to his connection to the nexus of Hogwarts and forced the killing curse back towards the professor. With a final deep profound groan almost a growl, Harry forced the green curse to return into the professor's wand and then the professor flashed green, spun and disappeared as Harry caught the wand.

There was such a continuous barraged of overpowered stunners flying around that Fudge and the Minister's official party were caught in the crossfire and were hit multiple times. So much so that they were put out of action for the rest of the night and so was a jealous, exceedingly angry Ronald Bilius Weasley who, curiously enough, had two black eyes and a broken nose and had been standing in a rather odd way and directly behind the insane one-legged professor. Typically for Ronald Bilius, he was too preoccupied with his anger and hatred as he sneered at Potter to notice the danger he was in and he was blown backward by the ten overpowered stunners that hit him so hard.

"Bloody hell, I thought the obvious danger had passed but I forgot that you're Harry Potter!" Cedric exclaimed.

"Welcome to my world." An exasperated Harry replied. "Every DADA professor has tried to kill or injure me. Even the nice one. I wonder what the headmaster's selection criteria for the job is?"

"Probably the same one for Potions." Neville replied. "They tick the box about hating, injuring, killing or worse, expelling students."

Remus had always wondered why the headmaster had let him teach students. He had hoped it was because of his knowledge and ability but he feared that it was because he could be very dangerous as a werewolf. He turned to examine the Marauder's Map and played back the last few moments.

"Damn! That wasn't Mad-eye Moody, it was Barty Crouch junior!" Remus said after he checked the map as he was wondering why the crazy old Auror had cursed Harry and he was still looking for the bad wizard who had cursed Viktor and sicced that Acromantula onto the Champions. "He must have used an emergency Portkey to escape."

"Remus, did you see what Harry just did?" Sirius asked who was disguised as Remus' American cousin, Seriously Grimm.

Remus shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, I taught him for a year. You have seen his Patronus and no one told him that you were not supposed to be able to do that, so what did you expect?"

"He really is the son of James and Lily!" Sirius said proudly and Remus couldn't agree more.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Madam Olympe Maxime surveyed the damage and fired another stunner at Fudge just to be sure before she turned to the Champions. "Well done my dears. There will be no presentation tonight, so it is not over. You better get yourselves off to the Great Hall where your fellow students are waiting to start celebrating your successful survival of the Third Task."

"Of course, Madam." Fleur responded with a smirk as she turned to her fellow champions and looked particularly at Harry who took the hint and cast his Patronus charm six times as the Champions recast their lances and banners. With the love of his precious Hermione in his arms and the emotions of joy and happiness of the glorious victory that night, Harry could summons the power to do anything. Little Gabrielle squealed as she took Fleur's hand and jumped up on their silver stag, while Cedric and Cho mounted their stag, Viktor struggled with his two beautiful witches from Beauxbatons on his stag, Neville and Luna with Dan and Emma mounted the two spare stags leaving Harry and Hermione on the last stag.

" _God for **H** **ARRY** **,** England, and Saint George!"_

" _ **CHARGE!"**_

Screamed Gabrielle, Luna, Hermione and Emma as Sir Nicholas proudly blew his old battered bugle and led them to the castle with their banners flying and trailing so many colourful stars as DobbyCam and KreacherCam captured the whole event.

Fleur knew that the reference came from Henry the Fifth, and that the play deals with the Hundred Years War between England and France. But, hey, the French eventually won that war, and she loved this Harry who had helped her to save her little sister.

Luna Lovegood loved snuggling up behind her Neville as they rode of their silver stag together that charming romantic night with her arms wrapped tight around her beloved. It didn't take too long before loving Luna discovered that Neville was very ticklish and poor Neville discovered that his beloved Luna had a very fiendishly wicked side.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Sir Nicholas met up with the Ghosts of Hogwarts and together they proudly led the Champions through the castle as they rode their silver stags and the Castle played the theme from the Great Escape which matched the lumbering movement of the stags. They made a fantastic grand entrance into the Great Hall which had been magically expanded to hold the happy loudly cheering crowd. They mounted their banners behind the head table as they billowed in the non existing breeze and trailing so many colourful stars.

Fergus and Fawkes took up a position near the large painting behind the head table where they could watch and enjoy the celebrations with Lord Phineas Nigellus Black with his fellow portrait friends. Fortunately it was a very large painting as Sir Cadogan had been very busy spreading the exciting news around the castle and everywhere else and everyone wanted to come to the Great Hall and celebrate.

DobbyCam and KreacherCam were there to capture the happy party including many witches and wizards doing silly things to celebrate.

The Castle had rearranged the four house tables and moved them to line the walls as they held all the finger food and refreshments that the elves had prepared. That left a large space in the center for a dance floor and Harry and Hermione prepared for the first Victory waltz with Neville, Luna, Dan, Emma and the other Champions. Luna decided that her standard black school robe would never do to for such a celebration so she took out her wand and transfigured her black robes into a beautiful bright sunshine yellow ball gown. Hermione smiled as she took out her wand and transfigured her robes into a bright periwinkle blue ball gown. Then Luna and Hermione shared a wicked grin as they turned to Hermione's mother. Their wands were a blur as they worked together to transfigure Emma's black robes into a beautiful white princess ball gown with a periwinkle blue sash and sunshine yellow ribbons for her hair. Dan smiled as he saw how stunning Princess Emma looked while Hermione and Luna transfigured his robes into a black tuxedo with a sunshine yellow cummerbund and periwinkle blue sash.

After the brilliant display of magic that the witches and wizards had witnessed that night that saved them from a terrible death by Acromantula, this daring show of bright colours was like a revelation. They had rediscovered that they were witches and wizards and they had the gift to do magic and the responsibility to care for each other. Sadly a responsibility that Dumbledore had taken away to give himself power over their lives. The first thing that showed their new freedom of thinking was to follow Luna's brilliant exciting example and get rid of the regimental blackness of their robes that made them all equal. With a flick of their wands they made a little change to the colour. Soon the Great Hall was filled with all the bright colours of the rainbow and Luna couldn't be more happier as now they saw what she saw as she had always rejected the drab colours of the crabbiness of Dumbledore's Greater Good had given them.

Not to be outdone, the Castle DJ exceeded her own expectations and played the most beautiful selection of waltzes and tangos including Lara's theme, the Blue Danube, the Tennessee Waltz, and even Waltzing Matilda. During the breaks the Castle played Unchained Melody for a nice close slow dance followed by Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys to wake everyone up.

After Harry and Hermione had moved everyone to want to get up and dance with the magic of their waltz and tango that showed how their love had made them one in mind, spirit and action. Harry then shared a waltz with Emma, Luna, Fleur, Gabrielle, Professor McGonagall, Daphne Greengrass, Susan Bones, Hannah Abbot, Moaning Myrtle (twice), and many other hopefuls. While Hermione shared a waltz with her father (which she absolutely loved), Neville, Cedric, Viktor, Professor Flitwick, Hagrid, and surprisingly a very shy Draco Malfoy. Who was dancing very well as Hermione could skilfully compensate for his two left feet and avoid him trampling on her toes. That was until Draco glanced into Hermione's cheerful eyes for a moment. But that was all it took for him to get lost in their honey brown beauty. Poor Draco's mind froze and he stumbled over his own two left feet as Hermione tried valiantly to catch him but he fell in the most awkward way in the middle of the dance floor. A shocked Draco scrambled to his feet with one thought to escape. He went a very embarrassing shade of red as he ran from the Great Hall.

Then the Beauxbatons students cleared the dance floor so they could do their version of Thriller which Dan, Emma and Hermione dragged Harry, Neville and Luna to join in with other students who knew the dance. Dan and Emma were surprised to hear the dark smooth voice of Vincent Price as the Castle played the official music video and that laugh at the end echoed around the Castle and caused many a witch to hold her wizard a little tighter and closer. Luna loved the voice and sinister laugh of Vincent Price.

Then it was Durmstrang's turn and they put on their black capes with the hoods up as they marched onto the dance floor to the Imperial March and then half of them reversed their capes to show the white lining as they used a fancy Lumos charm to light their wand like a lightsaber and performed a strenuous fight scene choreographed to _Rondo Alla Turca- Mozart_. It was amazing and very funny to watch Viktor and his big beefy mates lightsaber fighting on tip toes.

During another break, the Grey Lady got her revenge on the Bloody Baron by challenging his love for her and made him to do a duet karaoke with her and sing _Casper, The Friendly Ghost_. The rock and roll version by Little Richard. The crowd loved it so much that the Bloody Baron had to do an encore. He smiled as he sang a very gentle moving version of, _Remember me this way_ , that won him mega bonus brownie points with all the females and finally melted the heart of one particular witch and they finished with a kiss that took the record of how many swooned for one amazing osculation.

The Bloody Baron had only waited a millennium for that kiss and it was worth it as the two ancient ghosts danced the night away. That's love, perseverance and patience with a little help from a Harry Potter moment.

Then it was Hogwarts turn to take center stage and they pushed their official hero and heroine forward to dance for the school's honour. So Harry and Hermione danced her favourite movie scene. _The Time of my Life_ , at the end of Dirty Dancing. Everyone loved the passion and uplifting rhythm of the magic as Harry and Hermione moved as one to the music that climaxed with that big lift and a number of witches swooned. So many couldn't stand still that they had to join in.

Then all four Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions led the three schools in a fantastic version of _W_ _e_ _are the Champions and We will rock you_. Some might even say that the Castle joined in the last song as the floor moved to the beat.

By this time Madam Bones and the group of witches and wizards who went to the graveyard returned to Hogwarts and Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna were able to share a beautiful waltz with Frank, Alice and Augusta as well as Madam Bones and her Aurors. Hermione and Luna shared another wicked grin as they transform Neville's mother's and Grans' well worn battle robes into matching beautiful white off the shoulder princess ball gowns and Neville really loved to waltz his mother around the Great Hall. Luna loved the waltz she shared with Neville's father and her own when he finally arrived. But Luna couldn't be angry as he had been working so hard to print the next edition of the Quibbler which promises to be the biggest edition they have ever printed.

It was a very long night as everyone loved the four-way tie of the Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions, and wanted to celebrate so much. The Hufflepuffs, young and old foolishly attempted to outparty the Gryffindors as someone had spiked the punch and a tipsy Professor Sprout kicked up her heels with a carousing Amos Diggory on the Head Table as the Castle DJ played the Can Can from Offenbach – Orpheus in the Underworld – Overture.

Cedric was so embarrassed while the Redhead twins found themselves in a bizarre uniquely impossible position. Everyone agreed that tampering with the punch while under the watchful eyes of the Deputy Headmistress and the ever present Head of Slytherin House would be their best prank ever. But the Redhead twins absolutely positively and completely denied that they had anything to do with the spiked punch. This put the twins in the very unusual position of having to take credit for something they didn't do and then accept the points lost and the detention punishment with Professor Snape. Or admit the fact that they had been outpranked by some unknown individuals and lose all credibility. But as this was their sixth year, they still had their seventh year to get their revenge and discover what potion had been used. Such a potion would be worth a fortune.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

While a certain Potions Master still wearing his billowing colourful black robes, smirked as he had invented the potion to brew one hundred year old overproof Scotch Whisky during his seventh year at Hogwarts and had no problem adding it to the punch. After seeing a happy bacchanalian Diggory senior make a complete idiot of himself, Severus finally understood why James Potter had put so much effort into his pranks. Happy people enjoy doing foolish things for fun as he had to admit that seeing Sprout and Diggory doing the Can Can on the head table was really funny and with the headmaster missing he could finally let his guard down. Plus he felt so positively groovy after putting his fighting skills to a good use and to take out all his frustrations on that poor Acromantula.

While Professor Severus Snape had enjoyed pranking that obnoxious loudmouth one wizard cheer squad, Amos Diggory. The very best part of tonight's celebrations was to have finally pranked the notorious red dunderhead twins of Gryffindor as everyone had blamed them for the spiked punch and no one would believe their protests of innocence. Then he added the most excellence double-barrelled bonus to have then allegedly caught the twins red handed and punished them with deducted points and awarded detentions with their least favourite professor until the end of term.

How sweet was that!

Then he, Professor Severus Snape, did something he hadn't done for so many years that he had almost forgotten how to do. He smiled. It hurt at first as he smile muscles had atrophied after so many years of absolutely continuous sneering, but it got easier. And he enjoyed the look of fear from those dunderheads who saw him smiling.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Professor McGonagall let them have their fun as she would cancel the points lost later but Severus could keep the detentions. The bonus of having two winning Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions was a great victory for Hogwarts. She smirked as she had confiscated the spiked punch as soon as she recognised the smooth mellow taste of Severus' one hundred year old overproof Scotch Whisky potion that didn't have the after burn of Ogden's Old Firewhisky. Also she had noticed that, fortunately, someone had also added wards to deter students so only adults had helped themselves to the quickly disappearing punch. A big clue in itself that it wasn't the redhead twins but why spoil a good pranking when you have always wanted an opportunity to finally prank the twins.

As a bonus, she even accused their fellow co-conspirator of trouble, Lee Jordan, and threw him into the deep end of the best prank ever. All three would serve detention with Professor Snape until the end of the term. That would teach Lee to call the Quidditch matches properly and besides it wouldn't take too long for the faculty to drink the evidence in their staff meeting as it was too good to waste and then the twins and Jordan would have no case to answer.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Fresh from his glorious victory over the notorious red dunderhead twins of Gryffindor, Professor Severus Snape noticed that someone was missing. He called the house-elf that was charged with the care of the Heir of the House of Malfoy and a little female house-elf appeared in a clean white doll's dress.

"Where is your master?" Severus asked.

"Kimmy saw young Master on top of the Astronomy Tower." The frighten little house-elf replied. "Kimmy is so worried for young master. He is singing a sad song."

"Go to your master and watch him. I shall be there shortly."

A worried Severus rushed up the stairs to the top of the Astronomy Tower and opened the door that led to the battlements. He stayed in the shadows as he approached his godson who was sitting on the edge of the battlements and heard the sad song he was singing alone.

"… _.Granger, wake up!_

 _I've been mistaken,_

 _She is the hottest girl I've ever seen,_

 _Something deep inside has changed,_

 _Now, because she's like a girl I've never seen,_

 _Don't know why I'd ever be so mean,_

 _This could mean... danger!_

 _I'm falling in love, falling in love, falling in love,_

 _I think I'm falling in love, falling in love, falling in love_

 _With Hermione Granger..._

 _With Hermione Granger..._

 _With Hermione Granger..._

 _Danger!"_

 _(_ _Draco's part of the Granger Danger lament song from_ _AVPM._ _)_

Severus sat down next to his godson and wrapped his arm across his shoulder as Draco turned to cried into his chest.

Severus knew how it felt to be in love with the most brightest witches of their age that, sadly, was in love with a Potter.

A sad Draco looked at his godfather. "What if the Dark Lord kills Potter? Do you think I would have a chance then?"

Severus snorted. "Potter has beaten the Dark Lord three times already and after what we saw tonight, I think the Dark Lord would crap himself if he ever had to face Potter again."

"Oh? You're right and even if something was to happen to Potter, it would kill Hermione too." Draco sadly admitted. "The world is a better place with Hermione in it."

"Even Hogwarts is a far better place with Hermione and Harry together." Severus acknowledged. "The world we thought we knew has changed forever and we need to change and grow with it."

"I know. It's just that it is so hard to change." Draco reflected.

"You're young, so there is still hope for you. You have seen what Hermione and Harry have done for Longbottom and Lovegood." Severus encouraged.

"Yeah." Draco snorted a little more confidentially as they looked up into the night sky and saw a falling star. They closed their eyes as they made a wish.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

And later on when the pretentious Sir Patrick Delaney-Decapitated-Properly-Podmore and the Headless Hunt had arrived, and tried to gatecrash the party, Peeves, the Fat Friar, Moaning Myrtle, the Grey Lady and the Bloody Baron blocked their entry as Sir Waldo accidentally knocked Sir Patrick's head off with his sword and he had to dismount to go and find it.

Then together the Grey Lady and Sir Waldo told those pompous headless fools that had been abed the grand story of Sir Nicholas with the Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions and the terrible Battle of the Acromantulas. Such was the way those two storytellers wove their epic tale of extraordinary courage and incredibly brave deeds against absolutely impossible odds, that the members of the Headless Hunt were left green with envy and they thought themselves accursed that they were not there because of that pompous fool, Sir Patrick Delaney-Decapitated-Properly-Podmore, and they held their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks that fought with Sir Nicholas that night.

They didn't notice the smile on Sir Nicholas' face as he stood in the shadows and watched and listened. He would return the favour soon.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Harry had enjoyed the night's celebrations with his beloved Hermione and was looking forward to a quiet summer holiday, but the Third Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament had been broadcast live on the Wizarding Wireless Network (WWN). Sadly many had tuned out due to the boring coverage with the commentators trying to make watching the wall of the maze more exciting than the History of Magic class or watching paint dry.

But that all changed the moment the first giant Acromantula came over the falling hedge wall of the maze as the commentators ran out of words to describe the exciting Battle of the Night of the Acromantulas.

So everyone in the Magical World had heard of the great victory of Harry Potter and the Tri-Wizard Tournament Champions and the four-way tie that made everyone so happy.

And the celebrations were only staring as they eagerly waited for their copy of the new premier British Wizarding World Newspaper; the Quibbler, and its super bonus section with double page full colour magical photos and surround sound, so they could actually see what they had heard about on the Wizarding Wireless Network.

So Harry's idea of a quiet summer holiday will be blown to hell when everyone sees the giant full colour moving magical picture on the front page of the Quibbler tomorrow and soon all magical newspapers, magazines and other publications around the world.

The headmaster, Fudge and Umbridge will be so jealous and absolutely sickly green with envy.

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

The celebrations in the Great Hall of Hogwarts had gone on until the sun came up, and they ranked as the most legendary anyone could remember, and that included Fergus and the portraits. But unfortunately, so was the massive hangover that some foolish adults had, and no one noticed that the Minister or his entourage or the headmaster or Ronald Bilius were missing.

But it was Cho who started the rumour as she shared with her close personal girlfriends that her Cedric would win the hush-hush unannounced fourth task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

But it is a secret so don't tell anyone!

Especially not Dumbledore!

 _\- Harry Potter, I will never make her cry again. -_

Thank you for reading.

 _So what did Draco and his godfather wish for?_


End file.
